Soften Hard Dirt in 3 Easy Steps | Always Build Soil

[@Jen.O]

I add one more thing to new soil: I prep soil with a liquified compost that is kitchen veggies whirled in the blender with water and poured out on the area that I plan to use. This seems to help create a better soil with worms, but wonder what you might say about doing this.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Excellent suggestion and addition here!

[@zia_kat]

i'm in the southern new mexico desert and signed up with chip drop yrs ago but never got any chips. instead i started out by growing my own bio matter for mulch, mostly mexican sunflower (tithonia diversifolia) because it grew massive and produced so much. now i use straw and whatever else i can scrounge. i'm extremely jealous of all who are able to use wood chips!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

It sounds like you have made do with what you have, which is commendable. The key is some kind of cover until your crops can do it for you.

[@Reciprocity_Soils]

Good idea to use whatever grows in the area. Is your sunflower still a good cover crop and compost material? Chop and drop and continue growing whatever grows will likely see a change in the microclimate of your surface soil. Is this something you have been observing? Weird as it sounds, I wonder how useful shredded paper and shredded corrugated paper (cardboard) would be as a mulch. Businesses in the area may be happy to get rid of paper waste, which could benefit soils and compost, and it would help gardens and farms as long as they take the time to separate it from other office waste. Thoughts?

[@louiseswart1315]

We have just the opposite kind of soil to deal with in our extreme heat summers - loose coarse granite sand. How amazing nature is designed, that the solution for our problem soil is exactly the same as for yours!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Amen to that!

[@ponygirl1073]

I’m originally from Cali where I was able to plant just about anything without soil prep. When i was moved here to Chandler, I watched as the good top soil was scraped away & junk dirt replaced it then tamped down hard for home building. Where I live, used to be agricultural area with good top soil. They then called it Caliche but it’s just hard tamped dirt. Would love to live on acreage instead of my unusually big yard. It’s a fun challenge though. Great tips. Thx.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That backfill "dirt" is always a challenge when we're trying to grow things. This area for us up front is much the same as anyone else as it's backfill dirt as well from the construction of the home.

[@MarSchlosser]

Nosy old fard here (fard, d sounds like a T, means a nag/horse :) In the fall, try oilseed radishes (daikon, China Rose and so on) mixed with other things. Right now, sorghum and cowpeas. Sorghum is used to break up compacted soil. Cowpeas pump a lot of nitrogen in the soil even when making a crop and pollinators love it. Makes good green beans for stirfry, too. When sorghum sends up a bloom, cut it down about 6" to a foot high. Leave for mulch, water well. Each time it grows up, then is cut, it tillers, and each new plant will drive a tap root as deep as it goes high. Chandler is a very good town, or was when the folks lived there in the 1980s. niio

[@bijou737]

Thank you for these tips! How deep did you dig down into the desert dirt before you started adding the nutritive layer? About how many inches of nutritive material did you add? Then you said you covered it all with about a foot of chips. Thanks again!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We don't dig at all, but spread it on top of the existing dirt. The goal is to keep what topsoil you have and enrich it for planting while at the same time building soil on top of that. As for nutritive material, it doesn't need to be much. We added just a light layer of material that was no more than maybe 1/2". If you're using compost you can do the same. If you're using an organic fertilizer it would need even less.

[@bijou737]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Many thanks!

[@Reciprocity_Soils]

Ever and again solid steps for happy soils. Staying open for all of this good information and the hands-on experience and fruitful results that go with it. Undeniable goodness.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one. We have a few episodes planned for this season that show how we're working towards building soil, but this is the one we use most often.

[@paul.1337]

We need a Quince video follow-up! Everyone's been asking me, "Paul, how is the Edge of Nowhere Smyrna Quince tree doing?!" That might not be true, but I ordered one, so I was wondering how well it turned out. @2:20 I like to think that's the same earthworm.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We do need to get an update on the quince. We did get a few pieces of fruit last year, but nothing to write home about!

[@AbidAli-bv2gl]

Excellent video. Lot to learn about Build Soil and Soften Hard Dirt in 3 Easy Steps, Great teacher

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one Abid!

[@Pamsgarden213]

It was great seeing you two today! Thank you so much for the consultation, you have helped me so much. I have a question, why do you not worry about the hay around fruit trees? Does the herbicide not bother them? Also, I put spent leaves and scraps down under my soil when I am planning to plant there in the future, it goes under the mulch and compost.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Great seeing you again today as well Pam! Any amount of herbicide in hay and straw is not going to hurt the fruit trees as they will not get anywhere near the leaves which is where they would be taken up into the plant. There is also too much mass for the herbicide to be effective on a tree.

[@Pamsgarden213]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm, great to know!

[@sissy1339]

This will sound strange but its true, They spray the skies here in Payson so much every single day that I rarely see the sun.and its near the END of MARCH! It even snowed and rained at the same time for two days. Can's plant any seeds. I've never seen it do this before here. Geeze! I enjoyed your video.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

As you know, the weather is definitely not normal. We have had rain for several weeks in a row which is not typical either.

[@wendyr435]

They spray the skies down here at the border every day now. Blue skies in the morning and nasty gray every afternoon and now the added wind. 😡☠️

[@MarSchlosser]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm According to a climatologist in the fam, "The only thing 'normal' about weather is anything it does is normal, for weather." Cali is being spanked by God and we get some of the leftover. Keep Cali in your prayers. She's really getting nailed. Next up, la Nina summer which can mean drought.

[@maryannchiquete3063]

There are months I feel like we live in Seattle, every day is "overcast". So strange

[@OrdinaryMan_]

Weather modification is done by governments. Another “helpful/necessary” intervention done for sociopaths’ benefit. Look it up ☮️❤️💪

[@desertdanblacksmith1394]

Good Stuff! I planted some Mondel Pines on the farm with your methods yesterday! I wish we had chipbdrop in G Valley....I gettin my chips at the nursery.....thx folks! shared to my FB folks!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Woohoo Dan, planting season in full swing for us here right now as well, but time is about up. Thanks for sharing us!!

[@ColonelKlink100]

I'm so glad you guys posted this video. It will be very useful for my new property (if I ever manage to get out there, that is!). Thanks guys!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

This is a big one, especially if you can get a full season of these 3 things on the ground prior to planting. It makes all the difference!

[@glleon80517]

George L here, Duane. You taught this practice in a past video but I’m glad you devoted an episode to it. I never would have believed you cold build soil with wood chips and water over hard packed dirt but it works! Now if you could just tell us how to extract rocks the size of basketballs I’ll be set! Thanks and blessings.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Hey George. I'm glad you enjoyed this one. Last year we mixed our How-to content into our weekly vlogs and some of it was lost in the shuffle, so this year we're trying to dedicate some time to the nuts and bolts.

[@sunnymining420]

ever thought of gel plants as ground cover too have living mulch basicly, which cools down the temperature and keeps the moisture underneath? it is more of a thing if trees are planted though. Not for prepping. love your project and learning a lot. Thank you for that.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Great question/suggestion and there are a few reasons. The primary reason was to get the trees established first as they are part of the income streams for the farm (any other roots in the ground can impede a tree's establishment). We also need to make sure the areas under our trees are free from rattle snakes as we have the public visiting the farm on a regular basis. Ground cover is an ideal spot for a rattler to reach out and zap someone doing a U-pick on some fruit! Plus the ground cover would get thoroughly destroyed by that foot traffic. Now, we will be doing some of this on the farm and keep an eye out for an episode this weekend where we discuss this very thing. 😉

[@coolwiz7994]

How well does 50-75% broken down chicken waste work? I have plenty as I have a lot of laying hens. I usually top dress with that and some free composted goat manure and leaf litter. Seems like it would work well.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I think that would work just fine assuming you have a full season for it to break down. In fact, that's typically what we top dress our garden beds with if we're not planting a cover over either Summer or Winter. Slightly aged chicken manure lightly sprinkled on/in wood chip mulch.

[@SG-vu4qy]

looking into growing my own hay, just for pasture use. Sainfoin Hay is looking fantastic.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We have grown to love alfalfa here in our pastures and are starting to use barley as an early cover for hay coverage later in the season as well.

[@SG-vu4qy]

alfalfa causes bloat in some livestock, Sainfoin does not. that's why I'm looking forward to growing it.@@EdgeofNowhereFarm

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@SG-vu4qy ah, good to know!!

[@SG-vu4qy]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIOzqGx-rNJ0h5ofeature=shared@@EdgeofNowhereFarm

[@christy1052]

We live on the far east side of the valley. We've gotten wood chips once from Chip Drop, but I was wondering if we should we be concerned that there may be chips made from diseased trees in the mix.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

I wouldn't be concerned with diseased wood in chipped material. The chances that disease will be able so spread from woodchips on the ground into your tree is VERY slim. Not only would it need to be from the same type of tree (chances are you're not getting fruit tree mulch!), but it would need to survive the trip and also the weather. If you want to eliminate the concern completely, allow the chips to sit untouched for several weeks and they will start to compost/heat up killing a lot of what might be a concern and then spread them.

[@christy1052]

That's great to know. I'd been putting off getting another delivery due to my concern. Thanks for your reply!

[@Bateluer]

Heh. When I used ChipDrop in the valley, they dropped around 10-12 tons of wood chips in my drive way. Great service, but it took my the better part of a month to move it to the backyard, one wheelbarrow load at a time. Way more than I actually needed, but its been slowly breaking down in my plots ever since . . . with the mountain of excess 'turning into soil' in a corner of my yard. I didn't go that extensive on prepping for my couple fruit trees, but I've done a bit of bed prepping for my veggie beds. Lot of broadforking to break up our hard packed dirt. As far as small garden tools go, my broadfork is my most valuable one.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Sounds like you're well on your way to making a wonderful growing environment!

[@kindlia]

Thank you!!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Glad you enjoyed this one!

[@mesutozsen903]

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[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Teşekkürler Mesut!

[@yaima0901]

Can I use pine straw as mulch to throw on top of the soil in areas I want to regenerate?

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Yes, as it looks like someone else responded, any organic matter that will break down and covers the soil will work just fine for this purpose.

[@robkeller3431]

Oh man, last year I bought a Pomegranate in a 15lb pot. When I started to dig the hole, the first foot wasn't so bad. After that I hit rock like dirt. It would literally chip into pieces like like I was hacking at a concrete slab 😂. I ended up filling the hole with water and let it drain slowly, and it eventually softened up enough. I mulched it good and the tree is looking great one year later.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That's the way to do it!

[@Dsrtgardener]

Gypsum also helps break up the hard desert ground,(it’s definitely not soil!) so a layer of gypsum with manure and compost will definitely help over time.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Also another great addition!

[@SlackerU]

You could mention that b/c your PH is so-so high that you need to mix in far more wood-chips than a low-PH soil. In that wood-chips start at about 4-5 PH & finished high-organic compost has a high-PH of over 8. I love the dark-green look of using elemental-sulfur but it's quite expensive to be wasteful with it. I wish I had more time to study acidic plants like blueberries by creating/making/building a low Ph & then a normal PH soil types.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Very true and is definitely worth mentioning. We may eventually do a few blueberries, but they would need to be potted and plenty of acidic amendments. Even then our high PH water is a problem!

[@jaredmccutcheon5496]

@EdgeofNowhereFarm Hey Duane, I have to grow my blueberries in containers or raised beds with soil for azaleas in them because we are nowhere close to acidic enough. I put one directly in the ground last year and it’s suffering bad, so I’m probably gonna dig it up and pot it up.

[@helpisonthewaytutoring4259]

My soil (mostly sand) and water here in Florida close to the coast are both alkaline (close to 8) and I struggled with blueberries. However, I started planting them in the shade of my avocados straight into the mulch/wood chip layer on top. Burying the rootball only about 1/3 deep into existing mulch and then mulching the top of it in a mound. This made a huuuggee difference, and they are thriving and producing great this year. Just give some citrus slow release fertilizer once in a while and seaweed and fish emulsion. Did not have to use pots. I added some rabbit eye types too to mt southern highbushes as I read these have a higher pH tolerance. The biggest thing was planted in mulch no soil at all. Commercial blueberry farmers inland here do this - they do long rows of mulch mounds and put rootballs entirely in this.

[@robb4866]

My 3 yr old Blueberry bush is in a 25 gallon growbag topped with pine needles from our 40' tree in the backyard. Doing well so far this year.@@EdgeofNowhereFarm

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

@@jaredmccutcheon5496 that's our assumption here as well. They would have to stay potted and even then I think we would be challenged.

[@taylorvanbuskirk8040]

I can only grow cactus or native desert plants (Like creosote and brittlebush) in my soil because not only is it hard as a rock, it's full of rocks. I have to grow my food in raised flowerbeds. That way, I control the soil.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

That really is frustrating Taylor. I will say though, that apple cactus you have looks fantastic!

[@taylorvanbuskirk8040]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm, I'm just saying try "one" monstrose cactus, and see how you like it.

[@taylorvanbuskirk8040]

I'd like to see that. I'll check it out @Ni-dk7ni

[@robb4866]

Ok guys whats up? Posting a video at Midnight is odd!

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Yeah, that was a mistake. We try to post at 12PM, not AM. 100% on me...this is Duane writing of course!

[@robb4866]

Gonna say - your on our shift now - lol Well, I hope you 2 have a great weekend! @@EdgeofNowhereFarm

[@michaelmcgourty9535]

Where did the worms in your soil come from? Where I live there are none, so I bought some from Amazon.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

We've been cultivating these since our old farm. They came here in potted transplants and we've worked on making sure they had a home everywhere we've planted. For example, our composted pig manure is loaded with worms and we use that as fertilizer on our trees 3x/year.

[@SG-vu4qy]

if the hay doesn't have weeds, it's been sprayed.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Very true.

[@Technoanima]

If you're the one providing the organic matter, eat organic as pesticides and GMO do pass out as well.

[@EdgeofNowhereFarm]

Very true!

[@Technoanima]

@@EdgeofNowhereFarm yes, I have two friends, one who eats produce from their homestead and one who eats from grocery and restaurants. Both use humanure, no prizes to guess who can't seem to grow anything with humanure.