From Pasture to Production

In today's video I discuss some the ways in which people who grow food professionally start their gardens.
Some things I discuss: how to start a garden from scratch, how to turn over the soil, how to plow with a BCS, When to plow, how to start a no dig garden, how to start a no till garden, never till gardening, can you till before going no-till, mulching a garden, can you plant into compost, how professionals start gardens, using cover crops to start a garden, how to start a garden fast, how to start a garden right, etc..
Music: "Getting to Know" by Coffee and Cats
My book 👇
The Living Soil Handbook:
www.notillgrowers.com/livingsoilhandbook/d9z5gkf1bbnhu0w5xxb3trngiqhwgo
🚨 OUTSIDE OF United States: just get the book from local retailer because shipping is outrageous and you can instead, support our work through one of these methods 👇
Support our work at notillgrowers.com/support
or
Patreon.com/notillgrowers

[@notillgrowers]

Hey all - I usually try to take an hour or so on Mondays and answer everyone's comments but holy cow there are a lot of comments on this video already! I will try to get to more but I gotta get to work on the next video. Just know you all are awesome.

[@TheBelrick]

Your kind of channel is very upsetting. There is this modern myth that humans should subsist on sugar and sugar only (and insects.) This is evil. Here is how humans go off grid. 1. grow grass. Pastures. 2. have your food eat grass until large. 3. Harvest your crop of fit for humans to eat food. Plants are just sugar and sugar causes inflammation, diabetes, obesity. Heart disease and premature death. Every single part of a plant is sugar in one form or another (and only two matter, sugar we can digest and sugar we can't.)

[@georgeyoung2990]

I would like to start the preparation to plant a garden on 1/2 archer. I live in Conroe Texas. I will start by tilling and using a tarp, then mulch, then give it until September. If all goes well I would like to plant Greens and Squash beginning September 15, 2022. Do you think this will work? Oh this is my first time to plant.

[@nathanthompson4600]

​@@georgeyoung2990 Squash is a warm season crop and is frost sensitive, so unless your area doesn't receive freezing temperatures during the winter I would wait to plant squash until the soil warms up in the spring. The name "winter squash" can be confusing, it doesn't refer to squash that are grown over the winter. Instead it refers to squash that can be grown over the summer and stored through the winter. I hope this helps and good luck with your garden!

[@agriculturewallah9307]

Sir, Can you please add Subtitles in Video

[@johnkings2030]

Plowing is good and injecting soil ammendments is effective especially when the soil is not at its best.

[@johnsonr9]

"Dogma is not going to help you in farming..." perfect advice. Great channel. Smart man.

[@chanc9737]

What about dogpop?

[@jimadair9305]

You don't want to use carnivore manure on edibles. That increases your risk for disease.

[@elvisynk8305]

Thanks for your videos. Iwas born in a small village located around Cameroon 🇨🇲 and Nigeria 🇳🇬 border centre/west Africa. Growing up there was no Internet connection nor roads we had to trek for 3 hours to get to Nigeria or 9 hours to get to Cameroon, in other to see good roads or sell our crops, but trust me it was fund and it really made me stronger. My parents where small farmers till 2009 i lost my dad, we had to moved to Lagos Nigeria in 2011. I can remember in my small village my parents didn't have to go through a lot of stress because the land was very fertile and any crop they ever planted was doing extremely well, without fertiliser or watering the crops. 2 years ago I started watching alot of videos on how to farm, because prices of food stuffs in Lagos for the past 2 years has really been going up, and I realised how blessed my small village is lol. I'm happy because my dad's houses are still there. I'm 26 years old and I've been saving up, I can't wait to go back to my village and start up my farm with all this experience I've had in watching different videos and learning more about different virity of crops. I'm really greatful🙏

[@jayoue1515]

Wonderful!! I love that you appreciate how you were raised - eating like royalty!!

[@blake9574]

One of the most dense, no bs, educational channels out there. Keep it up y’all. And thank you for sharing all this hard earned knowledge!

[@ChadnRanda]

Well just a little bs ing lol 😅

[@harlankraft578]

I totally agree love Jessie’s content and mannerisms as well. Lots of facts nearly no BS!!! My favorite Growers channel!

[@marisa5426]

I'm an experienced flower gardener but completely new to veggies. Started my first two veggie beds this year. One is ridiculously slow-growing. The other is taking off. Almost double the growth in the second bed. Bed 1, the slow growing disappointment: Started with overgrown lawn that tended to flood, broke up the clay soil with a fork. Added bagged black earth (2-3 inches), built my raised bed frame on top of that and tossed in some yard waste and more bagged black earth. Planted immediately. Bed 2, the efficient success: Started with overgrown lawn directly beside bed 1 on a drier day. Mowed down the lawn, forked it, added 1-2 inches of yard waste, dug it in very slightly (I'm on clay soil working with hand tools), covered well with cardboard, soaked and let sit for a week, covering holes with more cardboard when a few small weeds made it through. I then brought in 4-5 inches of rich, living compost (filled with worms and other life) from my boss' manure heap. (Benefits of working at a stable, bonus that my boss grows his own hay, chemical-free). I let the bed sit for around a month before I planted into it at all. Bed 1 does not retain water well. At all. Seeds took forever to get true leaves, growth is slow and disappointing. Weeds aren't bad though, almost nothing came up through the soil, only what blew into the bed to remove. Definitely will need to amend the soil this fall though. Bed 2 holds consistent water levels without becoming flooded but does require a lot more weeding unfortunately but I just chop and drop the weeds for more organic material. Lots of dandelions so at least they're not competing too badly with what I have in there. My plan for this fall is to put in 1-2 more beds doing the slow method and redo the failed bed entirely. I definitely will not be using bagged soil for in ground growing or raised beds ever again. It's just dead dirt. I'll use fresh, living compost that I can source locally. Way cheaper too.

[@alliwantedisapepsi1492]

First time garden. I took a 50 year old lawn, tilled it, spread 4 inches of manure/ mulch and tilled it again in the late fall. Planted garlic and now I have 60 of 70 sprouts growing well in February. I think this is going to work. Thanks Jesse.

[@brandontekahu4663]

Tilling is definitely not good

[@alliwantedisapepsi1492]

Ground was hard as a rock. High clay content. A shovel only dug in an inch with a good jump. I hope tilling in compost a couple of times gets matter into the soil so I can go no till. Farming on a rock is hard to do. Thanks though.

[@IPursuePeppers-CTH]

@@alliwantedisapepsi1492yeah that’s fair, it’ll take a year or two to do no till or no dig, I know this because my garden was crappy before I planted, and even after tilling and using a hoe to loosen up the dirt, my dirt settled and it filters horribly, I just started compost this year, so I hope that helps the next.

[@KhalidAl-Shammari]

​@brandontekahu4663 it is good and work for centuries

[@brandontekahu4663]

Oh damn I've heard all about those areas. Very sad sorry dude good for experience though.

[@EvanMorgan7]

One method I have had success with is using potatoes as a sort of cover/food crop to prepare new ground. You can disturb the soil or not. Potatoes love fresh decomposing sod, and they seem to attract such a plethora of microorganisms and earthworms that you get a decent tilth after they crop. I simply lay the potatoes out at a decent spacing, and I might make a slight hole and dig them into the sod, especially recently as the vole pressure has gotten out of hand, then cover with ideally a weed free mulch like straw or second cutting hay or compost, but usually I use a combination of compost and hay I can acquire cheaply. Hill the potatoes with hay or compost throughout the season, and after harvest the grass will be totally dead and worked up by critters, and the beds can be planted into a cover crop, or fall crop. This is pretty much the ruth stout method of growing potatoes, and lends itself to breaking new ground while growing a crop.

[@ronaldcummings6337]

I have always been a very visual learner. So your videos coupled with your book helps it to sink in. Then applying cements the lesson. Thanks Jesse and thanks Hannah for sharing your soil nerd!

[@notillgrowers]

Oh awesome, Ron. We definitely wanted to create a dynamic array of content for everyone for that reason, so we're glad to hear that it's helpful that way!

[@je9417]

"thanks Hannah for sharing your soil nerd!" Love this, haha!

[@thatguychris5654]

Warning about straw: lately there are increasing numbers of gardeners who get hay/straw tainted with GrazeOn and other persistent chemicals that totally destroy gardens and orchards. Do your research and know your source!

[@stephenlonon4605]

I wasted so much energy last season pulling hay out of my beds after discovering that they seeded

[@scholasticbookfair.]

​@@stephenlonon4605and so grazeon is a good idea to you? The hay should've been rotted.

[@blaablaahi]

@@scholasticbookfair. it can persist even if digested and rooted for a fair fair while

[@johnmurphy2617]

I've experimented with 3 different types of beds thus far! The deep compost, beds built with native soil from around the farm, and then building beds in place with the soil that is there! I'm adamant about bringing my native soil to a standard that will grow any crops i want to grow and that crop be healthy!! So far I rather enjoy building the beds in place. Having 100 acres of farmland i am able to go i to the woods and gather leaves as well as leaf mold at will whenever I want. This is proving to be a great way to add organic matter and microbiology to the native soil i am turning into garden space!! I am also adamant about making my own liquid fertalizer and have been studying the jadam techniques alot. I think the inspector will be pleased when we finally do go to get our organic certification!!

[@Tidnull]

I quit my job to become a market gardener a month ago, took out small loans for living expenses and starting the gardens. I am doing the quick risky method of no-till-->paper-->compost-->seed in midwinter Zone 7b. Sod was mostly eaten down by horses, manured, and had years worth of oak leaf grounds on the surface, full of earthworms. I laid down two layers of builder's paper, and built beds 4 ft wide with 4 inches aged horse manure/bedding compost that my neighbor cooks up in huge piles. I would be more apprehensive if it was hydrophobic mulchy stuff, as I had hell trying to grow in that stuff before. This specific horse compost is some of the most friable I have ever seen. It almost never loses moisture and drains well. I then immediately broadcast a "cover crop" polyculture of mustards, carrots, turnips, beets, radishes, chard. I am starting indoors heading brassicas, cilantro, lettuces, peas, green onions, spinach to plant into the polyculture after thinning. I admit this method will be difficult for predicting yields/quick harvesting, but my hope is that the reward will outweigh the risks/cons. Will report back in a month.

[@HuwRichards]

Looking forward to this one!

[@mariskascheepers4133]

How don't you have a million subscribers? Your content is great👍

[@flatsville1]

I've started many gardens due to career moves. Those I started in the late summer early fall were always the best having 10 mos or so for worms, compost, covercrop & mulch to do its thing. I never had great success with gardens slammed together in the spring unless I was at least able to cover the area in deep mulch some months ahead.

[@mathisrobinson9042]

Agreed .. was going to make my own comment post, but will just piggy back. This video is perfect timing for folks, as I am a big advocate for starting gardens in the fall, too. You mentioned one method that almost overlapped from fast/slow .. which was (depending on the native soil) layers of cardboard (3 at least for me, which will EVENTUALLY kill the grass below .. & actually I recommend cutting the grass as low as possible 1st, to map out your garden area), and then spreading many inches of compost on top (aged cow manure being best choice in my opinion). This way, you can plant fast if youd like, and will have a great garden waiting for you next spring, as the cardboard should be broken down.

[@harrykersey3181]

I use tree leaves primarily for compost and milch and I use mostly oak , and other hard woods leaves along with rotted pine needles as they are an excellent addition to my compost and the old saying that they acidify your medium is just not true and studies made by several universities have debunked the old wives tale that they do . the reason nothing hardly grows under them is that they mat and dont allow air water or sunlight to penetrate over time . I also use them in my Isles as they are slow by themselves to breakdown and are easy to resource here in the South East where I'm at in N Eastern Georgia . I use dolimite , hybertite rock powders, Seaweed when I can get it , or any aquatic's when available as they all are great sources of potassium and nitrogen . the more diverse your compost the better off your medium.

[@InnerSunshine]

I was on a big garden where we used humanure and urine. This issue issue is people contributing get sick. When they are sick you want a second place to put urine and manure where it will NOT get into compost. Always compost urine-manure, ideally in hot manure. Any temperature compost probably okay for most situations. There is a book on Humanure.

[@Organicagain]

This is my favorite gardening channel. Yep, I have an autographed copy of your book. I would like to see more cover cropping for idiots and the time-deprived type of content. Tarping tips and tricks. The different depths and levels of soil loosening and cultivating, and appropriate techniques. The pollinator/habitat rows, and keeping varmits off your crops. Troubleshooting mid-season. Living pathways updates.

[@notillgrowers]

All good ideas! Thank you!

[@boysrus61]

"Cover Crops for Idiots". This is an excellent idea. I have no idea what to plant as a cover crop in my area. A few weeks ago, I put a 30x30 black plastic over an area to kill off my grass, and now I am thinking I will put cardboard and straw down (which goes first the cardboard?) then some mulch from a local farmer and a cover crop and let it sit all winter. Wish I knew what I was doing...

[@sanschmidt6727]

Cardboard first. Look at me. I know something 😂

[@tracycrider7778]

@@boysrus61 cardboard, mulch/compost & I use red clover for cover crop

[@johnkings2030]

I find the double dig method, it's a form of plowing, but found that extremely effective especially when you have poor soil and are in a hurry. It's hard work without machinery but it works.

[@marcob1729]

Amateur grower at 7,200' in Colorado here. Thank you for emphasizing location dependencies! For example, we laid some cardboard down in an attempt at a fast living pathway. Two years later, and you can still read the labels on what were the boxes. We just don't have the decomposition rate in the high desert for that to always pan out

[@brendamaggio9189]

I found it also harbors cockroaches. They really like the shade and dampness it provides here on the West Slope of CO in these blazing summers! One summer was enough for me with that experiment!

[@kolafoltin]

I have found that weeds enjoy the cool relief as well

[@brendamaggio9189]

@@smas3256 For cockroaches? No, I use Borax and chickens for roach control. I've heard the beer works good for slugs, but those aren't a problem for me here in the desert. I had tried the cardboard for blocking weeds in paths with mulch between beds. Bind weed grows well under it too! I find the living pathways work better for me, using white clover.

[@carralumsden8853]

I fought to sign in to leave this comment. That compost is absolutely lovely. It looks very very healthy. I cannot lie, this does make me somewhat jealous. I thank my nan especially for showing me many gardening and agri techniques. Happy growing. Peace and Blissings

[@75blackviking]

Love your channel. Great content, and very, very relevant. I've always agreed with the notion of no-till. Your experience helps folks like me understand the "whys and wherefores" when it comes to getting the details nailed down.

[@strongereveryday1891]

Thanks! This is my very first time homesteading and just threw stuff in the ground in the spring. I will start working on my beds for next year!

[@apricushill]

Well I’ve subscribed for his humour, been laughing the whole way through, and learning! Brilliant 😊

[@waynesell3681]

Moving away from heavy rototilling. Listening to you Farmer Jesse is great and you sure are awesome!!!! Making compost and have garden divided in to 6, 4*12 ft beds,plus few larger areas. Bought my first broadfork this winter and excited to see how compacted the soil is.. thanks for your inspiration!

[@Holodomor4.0]

Man this is such a ripper of a video! Thankyou so much for putting this one up! Some of the best information I’ve come across in my years of gardening.

[@shaungarbry88]

Nice use if the word "ripper".

[@floriswou]

Another very good and easy way is to simply 1. chop and drop (or use drop as mulch at step 4 (depending on amount of weed seeds), 2. decompact (broadfork), 3. sheetmulch (Cardboard/ newspaper etc) and then 4. a thick layer of mulch (6inch +), ideally nitrogen rich mulch + carbon rich mulch on top. 5. Pull aside the mulch, 6. poke a hole in the cardboard, 7. add a handful or two of compost in the hole and 8. transplant into this.

[@mariteshonrales6807]

Thank you for this, i will do it to my backyard mini farm 😊

[@shelleys6826]

This is certainly on a smaller scale, but has anyone discussed Hugelkulture? I have done a somewhat modified version of that in raised beds - some homemade using wood and roofing metal, some dozen more in 100-150 gallon livestock troughs. Both methods began with a layer of well rotting (old firewood) about 1/3 of the depth of the bed. Then we put in a mixture of 1 year old passively composted horse manure and bedding mixed with shredded paper, with the top 1/3 being well composted finished horse manure and bedding compost. Absolute black gold. The inground raised beds - vs the trough ones - began with a trench about 1 ft deep with walls about 24” on ground level around the trench. This still allowed the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 layering. Each late fall after cutting the dead plants off at ground level leaving the roots, I topped the beds with finished compost and put down a bit of grass clipping mulch which meant the ground was ready for planting in the spring. Given that we are in Northern lower Michigan, our last frost date is typically Memorial weekend or the first week in June. We moved last winter and while we left a few of the homemade raised beds, we did build a few more at our new farm. We also moved, at great effort with only having a neighbor witha tractor available to load but no equipment here to UNload. 100-150 gallons of soil in a trough which already carries some weight are HEAVY. OMGosh heavy. Crazy for a 63 yr old significantly physically disabled person and her 73 yr old “I can do it!” husband to attempt. Which lead to 4 of the dozen+ troughs tipping before we got help and displaying the absolutely amazingly wonderful contents of gorgeous soil and the barely there remnants of the rotting wood. I will ALWAYS garden this way. Did I mention I get AMAZING yields too?

[@notillgrowers]

One grower you can look to is Briceland forest farm. We did a podcast episode together for The No-Till Market Garden Podcast that discusses hugelkulture on scale

[@redhen689]

I have a tiny backyard garden, and have attempted different methods over the years with mixed results. In early spring I bought a metal raised bed and filled it with rotted logs and branches, then filled the gaps with sawdust, leaves and compost. Topped it with a couple of inches of bagged garden soil. Then I planted Swiss chard and kale along the edges and the filled the center with tomatoes. I’m surprised how well the tomatoes are doing.

[@kenhartman9981]

Hello Shelley where are you from?

[@ceedee2570]

I really appreciate that you provide multiple methods, calling out the ideal, yet knowing things are not always ideal. I moved cross country and was able to put a garden in starting in June. Well, it has been a humbling experience. I went from lovely loam to yellow clay. I now realize much of my garden prowess was the soil I had. I expect I can get there again with a multi-year approach. Happy growing.

[@davidvickers8425]

My wife is dissapointed with my garden, hard clay loads of weeds, last year i added all the fall leaves and this year it was better, but still quite sad, she is the drop a seed in and let it do its thing, everything that "succeeded" (lol) was container grown 20 tomatoes and 10 melons 20 cucumbers with 1 bag of ammendment $5. And some herbs. Its a multi year process.

[@papapetad]

I had a similar humbling experience trying to throw a quick wing-it garden together late spring in France with little water, a bit of manure, heavily compacted clay and weeds. Maybe more water would've given me some sort of harvest... I got a bunch of sprouts, some crops went as far as healthy seedlings, but the sprouts all got munched by these tiny black bugs that appeared in swarms and everything else couldn't make it with the lack of water. I had thrown in a bunch of cover crops hoping they'd sprout in unison and help each other get through the roughness but it just wasn't to be. I quickly realized after that the only way I would've had a chance was to throw a fat layer of manure and mulch to shape the beds, then put seedlings in and have at least one LARGE watering event plus a few decent rains. I went in with the idea of no till and absolutely minimal watering to naturally select the toughest plants from whatever seeds I planted. I realized some plowing and tilling to get started before a large application of manure/straw was key. I had put some solid hours into it. Sometimes, one learns the hard way 😅

[@havenbailey6555]

Thank you! So excited to start my garden!

[@tonycorrao7807]

Just started watching you, and i feel like I hit the jackpot to what i needed, I've always always loved gardening and always wanted own farm. over the course of 4 years my father in law has introduced me to plants and crops and i've falling in love with it. I've been jotting notes down all day, looking forward to drowning myself in learning. Also really digging the cardboard method as well and can't make to start making my own compost tea

[@BalticHomesteaders]

Very good video with a lot of great info. I've switched from hay to straw because of the seeds issue, it's made a big difference. Just had to up inputs a bit to compensate. It's good to see someone talking about tillage to make no-till beds, we need more of that!

[@tarnr5713]

Perfect timing for this video, thanks! :) I am in the Southern Hemisphere (NZ) where we are in the depths of winter and I am planning an expansion, starting nowish to be ready for planting early summer (December).

[@didanz100]

Hi fellow Kiwi. I'm starting a few shared community plots here in Matapouri.

[@Kilimanjaro67]

My favorite gardeners! You guys make the absolute best videos for no till. Great content, thank you for sharing 😊

[@cuznclive2236]

Love seeing the kiddos helping out. Our three-year-old granddaughter, who lives with us, helps me daily with planting, weeding, and eating the fruits of our labor. Great stuff!

[@conniecasale3593]

Don’t worry take your time if people don’t understand that’s crazy there’s so many people asking questions a little bit at a time and you’ll get through it don’t go crazy because then you won’t like it now it’s enjoyable I’m enjoying watching you a little bit at a time we will all get our questions and answers so far. I’m enjoying you thank you very much Connie from Staten Island, New York.

[@joycemiller7908]

I'm so glad to find this video! We're hopefully closing on a large property and I'm moving from my raised bed gardens in the city. The new property has a giant field of hay that I want to use a portion of for a big garden, and a grassy area I want to start a smaller kitchen garden in. I'll be starting with the late summer-fall crops. This is a helpful video for me.

[@lukelave8615]

Loved the longer video! I know it takes a lot of work to make so thank you! I have had luck with just a couple of layers of cardboard covered in compost and left to sit over the winter, by spring the cardboard is soft enough to plant right on top of.

[@ESVAGROWER]

I just wanted to say thank you guys for the knowledge and expertise when it comes to no till growing. I can’t believe I just found your account, I’ve been nonstop catching up on all the vids I’m behind on haha!

[@jeannet9592]

Thanks for the chuckles, and for the good information.

[@dawndan1866]

Loved the information and the since of humor. I will definitely be watching more videos.

[@TurtleColonel]

Jessie I’ve been watching for the last two years (subscribing on patreon too) and I just wanted to say thank you for the time and effort you put into your videos. I appreciate you and your team. 🧡

[@nedbelberski7919]

I like your videos,Jessy,keep doing the great job👍

[@Gkrissy]

I love using cover crops and compost in combination. Also I love the lasagna gardening method, all these things have built my soil health in a short period of time.

[@thisoldproperty]

It just hit spring here. Perfect timing. Great advice.

[@johnrosier1686]

I followed your example on the cardboard method and it’s been a good first year so far. We just moved here around the first of the year so I mowed the grass down to the ground, used all our cardboard boxes from the move, and put a garden soil mix from the local landscape nursery on top of that. So far we are doing well and hopefully next year even better.

[@southernroots2229]

Great video. In my four years of gardening I believe this video can help anyone from the backyard gardener like myself, to someone wanting to start a farm.

[@mx.olivia]

Wish i could like this twice, just came back to watch a second time and learned even more. Thank you!

[@rogertyler8804]

What's great about your content is the principles you emphasize work in those lush deep black soils in KY, but they ALSO apply to desert farming poverty grass dryland no-till and gardening at a mile elevation and days in the 90s and 100s with no water.

[@doncook3584]

No question…Farmer Jesse is addictive to listen to. Always enjoy and learn and am motivated

[@kurtmanshardt9825]

Hey there thank you for your videos I just watched my first one it's entitled from Pastor to production dated July 17th of this year so I love gardening so I'm looking forward to watching lot more of your videos I'm sure I can learn a lot once again thank you and happy gardening

[@GalacticFarm]

Super awesome info. Changing the world and saving soil.

[@672nita]

Your videos are extremely informative. Thank you so much. Keep up the amazing work 😊

[@wreay2240]

My kids and I did a garden bed for them which was compost on brown packing paper with woodchips on cardboard for paths. It worked really well in the same season. Need plenty of water

[@bioboertuur]

This is perfect timing :-) We have cut our last hay today, baling in about a week and then, veg beds prep :-)

[@jonahdav9589]

Thank you for the shared experience. Will card board with leaf mulch for the winter.

[@abmermaid]

OUTSTANDING video. Thank you so much !

[@Maddy_might]

I love your quick start method, because in my opinion, no matter what, second and third year gardens produce like crazy.....but you have to get the first year garden started! (I'm on my third year garden at the location!)

[@carlaephotography7096]

Thank you for this comment. As I was feeling like I was too late to start, since didn’t see this video in the fall when it was published. Just start! Great advice, thanks again!

[@TheHonestPeanut]

July is a great time to do a pop up no dig garden for a fall crop. It's a perfect time put together a hoop house too to get ready for the fall and winter. Also i tried reading those choose your own adventure books straight through. It's SO disorienting lol

[@cbdfarmersofamerica2058]

growing at 8500' in Colorado, 20 years and loving it !!!

[@texasprairie662]

Superb Video!! Thank you so much for sharing. You are a wealth of Garden knowledge.

[@l.dschick-inn-palacecrafts6174]

I'm loving your helping videos. Full of knowledge. Chickens adopted me 3 years ago which lead to composting to gardening. I am now thinking of my 1 acre back behind the chicken yard, to begin row gardening. I will tarp it asap. I'm 8a and will going at this slowly as I am learning still. I just need more chickens lol for more black gold. I think I will use their back yard gate to set a poultry netting up, for their guidance in the future, after my cover crop has grown. I'm excited. Ty 4 your helpful videos.

[@kevinmalone6132]

Super informative video, thanks so much! 👍 we are trying our hand at growing plenty this coming spring-i use my hens manure and spilled feed with the used straw and pine shavings for compost material. I find it amazing.

[@billg4630]

Did my quickest garden this year..im 60 and was given small plants unexpectedly and late in spring...more like start of summer..mowed on shortest setting..then sprayed weeds with trimic waited 3 days and used drill auger and plated..not best garden ever but doing pretty well..and I used fish emulsion after 2 weeks from start..i love that stuff

[@jpage1331]

I do all my garden rows that way.. I dig ditches between rows .. I learned this from gardeners from other countries.. was worried about droughts.. plus most my property is down hill and washes away.. when I did get rain.. and man the amazing difference it made.. 💯❤

[@enekuda05]

Funny enough, I'm looking to start a garden NEXT spring, and am doing research now in order to plan and make sure it had the best chance of success (as it's going to be a remote garden on a peice of land I own about 15 minutes from my house, and thus I can't be there EVERY day.) This is been a GREAT resource and I'll be Coming back through the next few months as I get stuff going!

[@EvolutionWendy]

gosh, your videos appear exactly when I need them. I am severely handicapped but determined to convert my quarter acre to a no-till permaculture garden. A few days ago I laid down some painters plastic to solarize an area, just like you recommended it in a video. I'm so excited to watch this video because this land is super fertile, but has hard summer-compacted clay weed soil. I think the soil is actually quite healthy, when it's slowly moistened with a soaker it smells great and clings to roots properly. But in the summer it's too hard to get a pickaxe through, so I wanted to do something to prepare it for the coming winter planting season. Location -- Northern California/Sacramento valley

[@amberalfaro1586]

My mother is severally handicapped, too. She uses cardboard and/or mulch as weeding is not much of an option for her. She has a great garden every year. Good luck! 👍

[@sandraconner6968]

I had a newngarden area picked on when we moved to new home. The soil is clay, so I layed dark tarps down at end of summer, left on til spring. I applied compost and mulch, and used raised beds for some crops and planted directly into soil for others. It worked great! I continue to add leaf mold to level.area and the soil is much improved.

[@tammyeasley2032]

four years I lived twenty mins away from my garden nothing butnardwork and disappointment but we got moved into our cabin in June I can't wait for spring!

[@joeypilgrim-dk2le]

I actually mixed compost ,leaf mold and top soil from the forest in 6 huge raised beds. This will be my first time planting in this. Worked pretty good in the one bed I used last year. I also used alfalfa hay to mulch with.

[@gangofgreenhorns2672]

Started another 3x50 ft bed this year with just a 1" till and a bunch of grass clippings, planted right into it. Added 4 last year in the fall with free hay and a shallow cultivation till. Both are working great, expect both to only increase in fertility next year. Also I finally have compost finished--been using that for stuff I want to direct seed into (remove and compost the mulch, put down finished compost, plant). I love my living pathways btw, it's like I kept the utility/mobility of a yard, while turning the whole thing into gardens.

[@notillgrowers]

Nice--love to hear that about the living pathways!

[@coleenstowell9643]

Hi, great info. Glad to know I am on the right path. Started a new garden this spring on an overgrown field of brambles and grasses. Originally, I wanted to create a lasagna bed to plant in but couldn't find affordable supply of compost, so ended up getting the plot tilled. Had it rototilled twice about 1 week apart and then put in landscape fabric 4' wide/bare earth 4'/landscape fabric 4' repeat all the way across. I planted in the fabric with transplants and then in between the fabric rows for direct seeding. The fabric helps to keep the weed pressure down. I also planted lots of melons and squash this year so the plants are helping to keep the weed pressure down too. Its going good so far. At the end of the season I plan to add manure and cover with straw so it will be ready to plant next year without tilling again.

[@markpennella]

Excellent garden. Perfect timing!!

[@margarethewende4187]

I Like your humor, I learnt heaps great info and I am experienced in garedning. KEEP THESE UP PLEASE

[@godricfamilyfarm]

Well said and excellently put together. Thank you

[@sosnatursos]

Endlich mal jemand der das super erklärt, ich weiß das zwar alles schon, aber einigen ist das bestimmt eine große hilfe.🤠🙏

[@conniecasale3593]

I totally agree. I just open my back door and I have on my back deck all my herbs, so I just grab some basil, some possibly some mint and that’s it.

[@debbiehall3759]

Excellent video! My mind is blown absorbing so much information and the possibilities! 🙌👏

[@kenhartman9981]

Hi Debbie where are you from?

[@chriscollins1592]

I garden in Western KY on land that has laid fallow for years. Our "soil" is pretty much yellow clay and we got very poor results this year. I tried to dig up the few potaoes that actually grew and the shovel bounced of the surface. I just ordered your book and I will be applying your methods ASAP in order to get better production for next year.

[@chefgiovanni]

Sounds like you got your hard work planned ahead. After the harvest, check out a few of the Chefs recipes.

[@MannElite]

Not sure how much land you got but it would probably help to add organic material, like compost or manure, it can be more expensive then chemical fertilizers but its probably what your land needs, even stuff like sticks and leaves or hay will help.

[@michaeljensen6805]

I would recommend leaf mulch. It's free and it will help you immensely. Gather a lot of leafs in the fall (as many bags as possible, but do some research since some leaves are not great) and then lay those leaves out on top of your soil. Keep doing this every year and your soil quality will improve. After your leaves have turned to soil, till it into the soil underneath.

[@grantguidroz7640]

Love using tarps to passive prep

[@GeoffPowell65]

Nice delivery dude, and lots of goof info. Thanks!

[@amberalfaro1586]

Best gardening video by far! Thanks! Zone 8b here. We squared off our large garden with logs cut from our yard. That holds all ingredients in and keeps weeds out. Then, we cardboarded the area with thick layers, overlapping generously, found free chick and/or horse manure as a bottom layer. It was quite a stench for a while there, but worth it. 💩 After that, we covered it with about 12" of free mulch (branches, bushes, etc) from the county. We have done this twice now. When it sits over the winter, covered with a tarp, it is just right for spring and beyond and the soil is beautiful not to mention the behemoth worms and a couple of snake surprises. When we do this at spring time instead, the wood chips bind up too much of the nutrients before beginning to compost and the plants struggle to start off, sometimes becoming to an early demise, but most get there eventually. All the shoveling is worth it. Soil is great and weeding takes about 5 minutes per week.

[@tolbaszy8067]

Great video! I like a method using an old iron wagon wheel tire about four feet in diameter. I set it where I want to plant, spade the sod about four inches outside the wheel, remove the sod inside that circle, amend the soil, spade the soil around the perimeter to the center, level and plant or transplant into this round area. Watering a round bed with a hose is more efficient than watering rows. I either shallow cultivate between beds or mow with a mulching mower.

[@saschathinius7082]

I like your approaches, the most I like that you are not saying that there is only one 'right' way to get it done... and that you are telling the 'reasoning' behind it... people learn to understand soil this way

[@hismrsaustin]

Excellent content. Thankful -- soooooo thankful.

[@erincarr9411]

Last small front yard garden I made was in a yard. I put cardboard down, then kitchen scraps and yard trimmings (in fall/late summer) then another layer of cardboard and watered until it started raining. In the spring it was ready to plant. I did something similar with tomatoes. Cardboard, then homemade well aged compost. I planted tomatoes. I actually cut through the cardboard. For the tomatoes. It worked great. We are moving onto our forever homestead this week. My plan is to till the garden and plant cover crop that will die back on winter. This is the first time I've ever tried cover crop. 🤞

[@lauragillespie189]

loved your explanations!

[@theburnhams2925]

Just "discovered" your videos Jeffrey, and enjoyed each one! Even tho I have tractors/tillers, my "go-to" tool for starting a new bed is my ol' Gravely walk-behind rotary plow. Engine speed determines how far it throws the soil, and amendments can be incorporated at that time (automatically burying 'em). Since our local lime is Dolomitic, Mg levels can become elevated over time, so Gypsum can help. Cover crops are Iron/Clay Peas and/or weeds/grass clippings. If grass clippings are picked up in a timely fashion, and piled high enough, they'll go through a heat and break down much faster than if you let them dry out in the (Fl.) sun before collection. Ideally, pick 'em up within a few hours of mowing and after a good rain---the bio-activity a hay producer dreads and prevents to the best of his abilities are the very ones the gardener appreciates. About the Gravely walk-behind tractor; that plow is spinning well out in front of the machine, not right in front of your feet. (I have a BCS 715 early model with roto-tiller and sickle-bar mower, but seldom use it---that tiller grinding away just inches in front of where I step is intimidating....) The Gravely roto-tiller (not plow) almost has to be used in reverse due to serious wheel/tire ruts. but the rotary plow throws to the side, so tracks aren't much of a problem. About once every five years or so I'll drop the 4' tractor-mounted tiller on a "resting" bed just to kinda introduce whatever is on the surface into the soil. I have sandy soils over yellow clay so occasional application of gypsum seems to help (especially with blossom-end rot in tomatoes) but elephant garlic is my main crop (and it's not "finicky" at all...) The gypsum isn't needed for soil flocculation just for Ca and S. I "religiously" broadcast "split-pea" Sulfur (over new areas, especially...). I don't think it does quite the same thing as calcium sulphate dihydrate. Keep up the good work! (It looks like I have about roughly a hundred videos to watch....) btw, where'd you get the Caturday shirt? I want one!

[@feirmebeardonn4597]

I am always thinking about starting garden beds!

[@nicky9589]

From Australia, Thankyou. Excellent advice, I can use in my optimal time. Cheers. 👍

[@tahliel]

Hi from internationally! Mid winter here in Australia. And of course, garden expanding is under way. Is there ever enough space?! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. It's so very appreciated 😊

[@kenhartman9981]

Hi Tahliel where are you from?

[@dandan8333]

No matter the amounts of views, I've found that you can always find different items that will give you a new outlook about doing gardening. Sir, we must be prepared to accept the information to benefit from your videos! Like I always said, ask a question 100 times until, the answer is understood by you! Have a great 2023 season! TY.

[@steverobinson5492]

Great content.....thanks!!! My gardens have been built using these types of methods. As a resource I have used Charles Dowding as well as you guys.... all to great success. And BTW...."digressions", Keep them to a maximum. I always get a kick out of your quick witted twists and turns. Cheers.

[@rustancalapatia3599]

From the Philippines. Thanks!

[@WeDewey]

😁 you sure you're not a part-time comedian? Love all the videos I've watched from this channel. Very informative and highly recommended.

[@Soul-sage]

I would have liked more talk about the damage to soil micro organisms as a result of covering beds in plastic, and the damage to soil structure caused by even one till.

[@fishstix2620]

Fellow Kentuckian..... glad to see growing content in my local region. Hardin county checking in.👊🇺🇲

[@stingray43550]

Hey thanks for all the content!! much appreciated

[@cooperspnwhomestead7763]

Thanks, I'm excited to expand on my growing section for next year. Still learning lots and after seeing this video I think I'll skip adding wood chips to the new sections. I start with tarping the grass, cardboard, wood chips, chicken bedding then compost. I also plan on adding a few more lasagna layers to my current sections since my veggies didn't seem to take off this year...could be combo of the wet/cold weather and soil hasn't developed enough.

[@joem7572]

Not to throw a fly into the ointment but be careful where you source your cardboard from. A lot of it is sprayed with chemicals that you may not want in your food gardens. Flowers or ornamentals may not be an issue. Great videos! My wife and I just purchased our future homestead and plan to start working it asap. Thank you for all the great advice.

[@mar1video]

Same with the compost . Sometimes there are herbicides in the commercial compost.

[@therevolutionisgrowing.4491]

Great video! Another option to get a garden set up quick in a turf covered lot without tillage is to use a sod cutter. It can also get out some of the bad weeds right off the bat and you’re not inverting any soil. Generally you’ll need compost after if you want raised beds though. Thanks for all your videos, tons of great information!

[@pamtryph2189]

Cut the sod and invert it as the first layer in a "lasagna" garden. We're all about losing the lawn here in drought stricken California.

[@simd510]

I herd that doesn't work with rhizome grass

[@melanieorsted8181]

Bermuda is not a fun one.

[@GriffinsGitau-nk4qu]

Watch epic gardening

[@alexpresent8907]

Love your video and Bought the book. Can’t wait to read it.

[@LA-mn7jr]

You're so entertaining! Great info too! Thank you

[@lochietaylor]

I'm currently trialling starting with a Ruth stout style garden for the first year where I can grow a potato crop. Within the first year, I add worms, worm eggs, and any sort of things I think will add good microbial life. In the second year, I add compost beds, and woodchip pathways and start the back to Eden style gardening.

[@elvisAronPresleybyRusty]

Where u get your wood chips

[@lochietaylor]

@@elvisAronPresleybyRusty in my local landscape supplies place, there is this stuff called hardwood chip. It's quite cheap and doesn't attract termites.