Did No-Till Gardening Kill My Plants? | Here's How I’m Fixing It

[@whitneyfisher994]

You are an example for many. Especially your children. Teaching them so much that needs to be known in the young generations now and to come. 🙏

[@KeithSilva2]

I also have heavy clay soil. It has been mapped by the University of California as "Clear Lake Clay." Each year, I plant a cover crop of Bell Beans which send down a deep tap root that breaks up the soil. I used to have areas where water would pool after a rain. After a couple of years of Bell Beans, water drains much better. You might consider planting a cover crop in some area of your garden each year. Best wishes.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Love that idea!

[@KeithSilva2]

@@patriciacole8773 Gypsum is a salt that reduces plants' ability to take up water. Only use this or any other chemical when indicated by a soil test.

[@patriciacole8773]

@@KeithSilva2 Thank you so much for the reply.

[@tamararobinson2069]

Everything is looking so Good!! #1 Burn off your Asparagus - where we live it grows lush and plenty on irrigation ditch banks - each year in early spring - March they burn off the ditch banks to clear and by mid April Beautiful Asparagus!😃 #2 My grandpa always burned his whole garden off each spring added cow manure and tilled it, made planting furrows. He had the best abundant garden in the whole valley!!

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Love the burning asparagus idea. We did that with the kids gardens this winter because they were so full of weeds and weed seeds.

[@andrewkliss274]

I love seeing families work and grow together. ❤ Good job!

[@thebandas]

It’s like a dream! I love watching your videos. I can learn so much about gardening, preserving. I also enjoy watching the work ethic you are teaching to your children. They look so happy and free! We are hoping to have a big garden in a couple of years.

[@kateokeefe5577]

Absolutely love your channel!! It is so lovely to see a young beautiful family - enjoying the good things in life and kids learning. Your joy in gardening and family is just wonderful!! 🥰🥰🥰

[@tater357]

I noticed something. You are not just growing plants, you are growing Farmers. AWESOME.

[@louisefourie5846]

Wonderful to see your children help every were and enjoy it. Xxx

[@Polpettina163]

The daisy chain row cover storage is such a good idea! After your last video I did it to all my covers and saved a tonne of storage space. Thanks!

[@gardeningjunkie2267]

Tomatoes in general don't love a very moist soil. They prefer a little drought from time to time to get really flavorful tomatoes. If you have a place that's sloping a bit, that would work much better. Just one comment about the seeds. Tiny seeds are always surface sown, medium ones get a bit of soil, and large ones a 1/2 inch to an inch, depending on their size. Once I figured this out, I never bothered reading the seed information again. Good luck with a new growing season! I love seeing the kids helping out, mine are more like city kids that are just not interested.

[@karenzorn773]

Your kids are just adorable and are learning at such an early age, good job.

[@catlover-fp5ig]

Hello from New Zealand! I really love your videos, my boyfriend and I are planning on homesteading ourselves one day and I love watching your videos to learn (I don't know a huge amount yet as I was raised in a city, so I'm still only just learning how to grow radishes and hyacinths from seed/bulbs!). You have such a wonderful family and are an inspiration in all that you're able to do on your homestead (and as a mother, your kids are gorgeous and seem so sweet!). God bless you.

[@nancyobrien2854]

my understanding of a no till garden is you start by placing some kind of a border (similar to a raised bed) around your plot. Then your fill the border with a combination of soil and organic matter. After the garden has had a chance to settle a few months, you plant in it. At the end of the season, you do not pull out the plants instead your cut them at ground level. The plants are then laid on top of the bed and covered with mulch or compost. The plants over the off season will break down refreshing the soil for the next year. I have not personally used this method. I have a 4 ft x 16 ft x 2ft high raised bed that is filled completely with homemade compost. I have been lazy in the fall and pull the plants out in early spring. Those plants I lay on top and then throw the entire compost pile on top. Then wait a few weeks and plant.

[@sgrvtl7183]

Great information, your details are very helpful and interesting. Watching your garden process is calming for me, feels 'just right'🥰

[@gilmanaigre1084]

Always til my garden...between rows to control weeds, every fall, to till in manure and compost, etc. I have and incredibly successful garden and have plenty of microbes and organisms etc. Never had a desire to go "no-till".

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Definitely important to do what works for you! 👍

[@cindyciesla650]

I have heavy clay soil too. I’ve been researching no-till for about a year, actually after watching one of your videos where you mentioned Charles Dowding. Maybe you could do a couple of test plots where you try no-till and your new plan B to see which one works out better. I have 2 garden plots …. One I put down lots of manure and the other I worked in a lot of peat moss. The peat moss plots drains nicely and the water often sits on top of the soil in the other garden plot with manure compost. It’s a journey. Thanks for your inspiring videos. Many blessings to you and your family!

[@floridastitcher1]

I wish I had been into gardening when I was homeschooling my son. He is 19. This has encouraged me to teach him some things while he’s still living at home.

[@beccabooom]

i always loved daisy chaining my rock climbing ropes. it's such a magical knot

[@eightysixcommunism2827]

We just cleared an acre behind our house for a no till garden. It's a little overwhelming. But so exciting and freeing at the same time. We are kindred spirits mama. Thank you for what you do. 🍃❤️🍃

[@gtromble]

I don't think that moving aged material from your paths onto your beds - even using a BCS - is a compromise of no-till, it's actually a very common practice. Great that you found a way to deal with your drainage issue in a way that keeps building the soil in your beds.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Thanks! I actually agree, I’ve seen JM Fortier do the same thing to his market gardens when the beds settle. I felt like here on YT I had to explain because there are some seriously die hard no-till or “never till” growers out there that don’t quite understand. I appreciate your positive comment!

[@TW-in3gg]

I'm also a pretty die hard no dig person. Nobody has all the answers, but it's possible the wood chips (or lack there of) might be a big part of your drainage problem. Back when you started, with higher swales and wood chips in the valleys, the chips may have been soaking up a whole lot of water during heavy rain. As the chips decomposed, they lost some of their ability to soak up water, and of course the raised beds flattened out at the same time. Raising the beds back up is a good idea, and putting down new wood chips to help soak up water might also help. Good luck this year!

[@Danielle-tg4jv]

You are such an inspiration.

[@tinabow3812]

Your young'uns has so much fun in the garden

[@mollybeee]

In New England there are a lot of rock walls built around fields from all the rocks. They do seem to grow well every year.

[@NaturopathnswAu]

I remember when you shared the video about your tomatoes. Devastating when it affected one of the most versatile crops. Seeing how hard you had to work to transplant the volunteers it’s good you did the work to prevent that happening again. I’m glad you still reiterated the importance of no-till and context. ❤

[@lucylu530]

I'm so glad your children are learning from you.

[@jensschirner6137]

Just one more thought: From Norway to South of Spain, people have always used those rocks and stones collected for walls. Lizards, interesting plants, whatever love it. I put them all into the middle of my hedges, looks good and attracts rare species.

[@maggieray1122]

Love watching your content! I work in vegetable research and we have a 60x100 foot patch of asparagus and the best way we have to knock the old growth is a weed eater with hard plastic blades (eye protection, long pants/sleeves, hat, and gloves is a must). Because of you all I started soil blocking this year, today is my first day doing it and I think it is working well. My husband and I finalize a purchase of 20 acres next week. I can't wait to transition the land to regenerative practices. I grew up on a large conventional farm but vegetable farming (yes I know corn and soybeans are vegetables lol I hope you get what I mean) always intrigued me more. Keep up the good work and I can't wait to see more videos, they help motivate me! :)

[@thenortonfamilyhomestead]

This is really good to know! We have drainage issues with our soil as well, and watching how you're remedying your drainage issues really helps give me an idea of things we can/should do to improve our garden!

[@blairmurray.5214]

Hi! I was intrigued with the fact that you use the Corelle Abundance ware from 1991. My grandparents had that at their house growing up, and I wanted a set of my own for nostalgic reasons. In search of a set for myself, I discovered that anything from Corelle before 2005 contains high levels of LEAD. Corelle released statements saying this for reference, too. I love watching you and your family and needed to let you know asap!!

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Interesting! I hadn't heard that, it was a Corelle set my Mom passed down to me. I just googled and looks to be true. I guess I'll be investing in a new set soon!

[@knaupp]

True master gardeners learn from failures by questioning, experimenting, and avoiding rigid dogmatism. No till has benefits, and drawbacks. One of the biggest problems for my garden in western Oregon is slugs. We have tiny slugs that live in the soil and every wood chip, leaf, etc. is their home, and no-till methods increase slug populations dramatically. After trying every control method out there (baits, traps, diotomaceous earth, etc.) the populations were only increasing every year. Finally, I found the best remedy is to rototill in my winter cover crop right before planting. This kills the slugs and saves time, money, and pesticide use, etc. I love that you are showing there is a place for tillage, and no-tillage methods, depending on your crop, climate, garden size, soil type, etc.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I 100% agree! Such a good point.

[@catherinekuiken1866]

Hello from Texas! My husband and I absolutely love your videos! We have a garden and have been struggling with the topic of till versus no till. We appreciate this video and the info on the BCS. This is definitely something we've been needing and were not aware of it before your video. Trying to research which model will be best for us. Any tips at all are appreciated. It's quite the investment but looks like it will be well worth it.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I still love no-till, but I think it’s easy to become a little too particular about it. Nature is the real teacher. Even after I fixed my walking paths, my soil was still teeming with earth worms both in the paths and in the beds. I’m still not a fan of yearly plowing and love that no-till makes weeds fewer and fewer each year.

[@OpenHandFarm]

Thank you so much for sharing all of the things that you learn and do wrong instead of only making things look like life is perfect. That means a lot! Thank you also for raising your kids as hard workers! That will bless them in the future so much!

[@nikolhall4896]

Do you have a video going over seed starting? I would love to hear about how you water, what you put in the the blocks, etc!

[@jd37691]

Your kids are such great workers! Good job you!

[@marciaballard2105]

Thank you for your honesty about a practice that works for many people. I, too, read and heard all kinds of good things about a gardening practice called mulching. I have gardened for 50 years and obviously, still have much to learn. I mulched more heavily and all over my garden more than ever before. Granted there was much less watering and way fewer weeds, however, I had the worst infestation of moles and gophers I have ever had. I used pounds of mole/vole/gopher organic repellent numerous times. They still devoured my beautiful Dr. Wyche tomatoes, my early girl tomatoes, (even ones that were caged up) , my cantaloupe, my watermelons, and my potatoes. I used smoke bombs in gopher holes and they were smart enough to throw dirt on the bomb and move to a spot 5 to 10 feet away. I put hoses in their holes and backed my truck up and put exhaust fumes in their holes while covering escape routes. I put hoses in their holes and ran gallons of water in them, all with very little success in curbing the problem animals...oh, and as gross as it sounds, I even tromped on one of them with my shoe on my foot and another stupid one that looked up at me that I bludgeoned with my walking cane. So, will I mulch again? Probably, but with much less depth, (or maybe not at all...still unsure). I would love some suggestions...please advise in any way that I have not done. Thanks

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Mulching is great for controlling weeds and keeping healthy soil but like you said every garden practice has pros and cons. Sounds like your getting overrun by the animals! I’m not an expert at that. We get our fair share of voles. But traps seem to work for me along with the owls. I hope they leave your garden alone soon!

[@marciaballard2105]

Thank you for responding...I have owls, hawks, and feral cats around but many neighbors don't do anything to stop the critters so the predators have plenty of food. I will set traps this year. Do you recommend any specific type of trap?

[@compticny3138]

Dad would have me cover the garden with grass clippings, shredded leaves, and kitchen scraps for the winter. In the spring we would rack off the compost and pile it up at the top of the garden (was on an incline). Know the feeling concerning the soil, grew up in Rockland county and then moved to Orange county. It took between 5 - 7 years before the garden soil became "good" and then unfortunately we would move.

[@Cindyscrossstitch]

The race was fun to watch. Your son that lost the race still gave his brother a thumbs up. That speaks volumes. 🌻🌻

[@catlover-fp5ig]

Absolutely! So sweet!

[@ajb.822]

Hi :) ! So, I have a little experience with no-till myself, and with gardening in general, and my husband knows a lot of general stuff. Between us, we have reason to guess that you have either a high water table as we once had on a property &/or a plow-pan. If you didn't seriously shatter a plow pan b4 plowing that time, then you definitely only aggravated it by plowing, besides seriously doing all the damage I'm assuming you know about, which plowing does to the soil life and structure, which time and doing things right can heal of course, but if it's a large area, and you totally up-ended the topsoil... may take awhile. And without a subsoiler, the soil life alone needs a lot of health, vigor, plant roots basically always in the ground feeding it, to gradually do the work to eventually break that up themselves. Planned grazing with herbivores or using a subsoiler/broadfork are the only ways I knew of to for sure do this fairly quickly. Which brings us to your mention of using the broadfork. I'm wondering if, once you had the soil mounded into raised beds basically, post-plowing, if your broadfork was able to get near that plow-pan (if indeed u do have one). IDK, just a guess and I don't mean to cause offense ! I would be curious if, digging a deep hole along the side of a row, u could see what's going on down there. A cut-away view like Richard Perkins has shown a time or 2 ( granted, he didn't have water filling his hole up !). Also, an Subsoiler "plow" like the key -line plow can be used, where broadfork isn't practical or as able, just fyi for those who've never heard of these. Again, maybe not able to really get down there, if held up by extra inches of mulch or mounded soil already in place... . IDK.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Yes, drainage issues are in the subsoil! I believe I need to do some more serious drainage work to permanently address the problem.

[@sarah3607]

Appreciate your videos so much! I always learn something and am encouraged in my own gardening!

[@stephenbergman6226]

Rebar has plastic caps to prevent injury,they work and are cheap

[@IfYouGiveAGirlAnAcre]

Thanks for your perspective and experience on no till!! It’s so hard (as a beginner) when everyone does something different and swears their way is best.

[@DiblersTraditionalFarm]

Awesome, thank you for sharing!! We have just started uploading videos on our channel. Doug ( Off grid with Doug and Stacy ) blessed us on 02-17-23. We had many conversations and days after his visit my husband and I decided we would start KZbin and share our farm life with y’all! I love watching others starting or continuing their self sufficiency journey. It’s so wonderful for all of us to share and learn from each other. Have a blessed day!

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Thank you and congrats! We will check out your channel! 😊🎉

[@deborahpitrone9483]

the giant chain stitch gave me a giggle

[@chasingmoonlightfarm]

Great points!!

[@gloriadavidson8599]

Totally agree about no digging it has pro s and con s. Have tried the daisy chain method of tidying up crop covers AMAZING 👏👏👏👏👏👏 thank you 👍👍👍 Love from the UK x

[@californiabrad]

Looking at your situation there is another option for you. Tile your garden area towards the river or what ever that is out the back. Tile is actually a drainage tube that helps water away from your farm or garden area.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Thanks for the idea. We have a pond behind the garden, granted it is fairly far away. I believe the cost would be too much right now, not to mention we have so many other projects in the works 😅

[@janinestroudn4912]

Thanks for the heads up on seed time. I’ve just gotten access and it looks really good. I have a plan now🤗

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

You’re welcome! Glad you like it!

[@ronnance4866]

Awesome!

[@fdabill1]

Love your videos and have learned a lot. Would it be possible to do a video on your seed starting set up and what you use? I’m new to seed starting and want to learn all I can. Thanks for all the time you all put into sharing with us. So inspiring.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I don’t have a tutorial video, but I do have a some very detailed information on my blog. Here’s one about outdoor seed starting: www.theseasonalhomestead.com/starting-seeds-outdoors-in-containers-or-soil-blocks/ and here is one with information on indoor seed starting www.theseasonalhomestead.com/indoor-seed-starting-guide-what-no-one-tells-you/

[@cw3365]

GOOD PARENTS ❤️✝️! GOOD KIDS!! BEAUTIFUL SMART FAMILY 👍👍 Favorite KZbinrs 👍👍

[@northrockboy]

wish my kids were so hard working. way to go.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Haha, yes they are good workers. But I also pay them well for garden work and that helps 😉

[@joannak4640]

Thank you 😁 It was really great seeing what's going on ❤️

[@adamsmith8797]

Hello! :) First of all thank you for so many wonderful, informative videos for a future homesteader(me!) to learn from. Im not sure how your soil is exactly and what kind of grass you have but based on my personal experience, I would recommend LAWN AERATION. More specifically, CORE/PLUG aeration. Among other things, it helps with drainage! Working for two years in southern Ontario, Canada in lawn maintenance, we would aerate peoples lawns twice a year. Once in spring to "open up" the lawn before fertilizing and planting grass seeds. In autumn before it got too cold, we would repeat the same process. Now your location may need you to modify the time and, density of the holes, however, I highly recommend you consider this option. How confident am I with lawn aeration you ask? Well, despite not working in that business anymore, I still aerate my own lawn twice a year. Hope this will help with your flooding! :)

[@WarriorGnome]

Looks like Northeast Pennsylvania soil---EVERY spring a new crop of rocks !!!! Hard work BUT worth it! Awesome job with kids involved!!!!!

[@Sovanursery]

So beautiful 💖😍

[@marinasanders8299]

Thanks you for discussing the no till/drainage problem. We are in the process of setting up our vegetable garden and we have more or less the same drainage problem as you. My husband wanted to till everything, but I not so much. The garlic I planned in november already drowned. So now I know what I can do to combat the problem somewhat without tillling everything. Thank you

[@michellemirk]

I did my part it's over, no more staling weeds and lies, it's done I did more than my part, ur dad is funny lol!!

[@andrewmcfarland57]

Tomatogeddon was terribly tramautic. Hope you have a sunny and perky patch of romas this year. (p.s. inventing the "T-post game" = sheer genius! 🙂

[@Poppy_love59]

Wither but a yard sale push lawn mower or use what you have and run all the brush under that mower to mulch it and it will break down far faster into good compost. Also make sure you add some soil to your compost to get the good bacteria started and get it up to temp around 120*f for pasteurization so it will kill any weed seeds before you use it in your garden!

[@lamgardn3800]

Haha! I can't believe I just saw someone crocheting with ground cover!!😆

[@alexanderbouwens2772]

You might want to consider digging a ditch or two parallel to your garden, excess water wil drain into it keeping the top soil dryer.

[@stryc9941]

If you use a pancake-esque method and create several layers of sediment, it will greatly increase your drainage, especially if you make the pancake on an incline. On the lower elevation, you could make a drainage pond and grow plenty of stuff there too. Plus ducks are also on the table at this point. Of course, this would likely take a season or two to accomplish, which you may not be able to grow. In which cass you could stagger your efforts amd parcel the land. Also, E. angustifolia is much more temperamental to germinate, if that is the species you are using (the most potent one.) Sunlight seems assist in germination but not a requirement in my experiences.

[@stryc9941]

Here is someone with much more experience in Earthworks than I, I have personally found him a wealth of knowledge. Maybe you may find your own insights as well. m.kzbin.info

[@stryc9941]

Also, keep in mind that soil flora are strong creatures and shouldnt be underestimated. Yes, wounding the earth disrupts everything and should be avoided * unless necessary * for a better system to be established. If you dont have a well thought out system established when you start no-till, you will constantly be in an uphill battle for the sake of no-till gardening. Sometimes it can be good to take a step back, re-evaluate and potentially redo if errors of ineffeciencies are present. Dont carry mistakes forward on a crusade for no-till because it's * good *; the errors will take away all the good you do with no-till unless you address them, amounting to little or nothing. Appologies for my poor English, I am not a native speaker for some time now. I wish you the best for your ventures, its not an easy one, but well worth it.

[@christinaperez254]

What you are proposing to do will work just fine.....not really considered tilling....but adding to the top of your bed.

[@ZingsVideos]

Proving once again there is no universal right way to garden. It depends on your soil, light and weather, your goals and the tradeoffs you choose (spend $$ vs labor with hand tools, chemicals vs weed pulling vs weed barriers etc..) There are so many differences from garden to garden. One inch on either side of a fence could have different light and wind conditions for example. I'm starting my 4th year of of gardening and still learning about my little piece of land.

[@reapergrim76]

Awesome stuff! 👌

[@fabonline9389]

I think you have discovered a best practice betwen no-till and yearly cultivation. Plants defintely prefer loose (aerated) and rich soil and soil willl become more compacted over time with no-till methods. So, maybe cultivation every three years with the addition of organics and minerals might be the best solution for the best production. Grading the land to slope to a central collection will also help to reduce saturation. The excess can be stored and used to irrigate in dry seasons. Observation is the best tool to achieve optimal results in any endeavor.

[@ianthrower8744]

General question: Do y'all make your own sugar? Press any vegetable oils? Mill flour? Curious about what you still hit the grocery store for.

[@lmvdb]

An annual application of compost might help with the drainage because that stuff holds a lot of moisture.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Totally agree! We add compost twice a year. The only time I wasn’t able to add a lot was in the initial set up the first year. It was during the pandemic shutdown and unavailable, I really wish I could have mixed it in then.

[@rt3box6tx74]

I've been gardening on raised beds on 40 inch centers for 40 yrs, because IF we get much rain (usually in May-June) my garden patch turns into a swamp. For crops that grow wide I plant on the middle bed and leave one on each side unplanted. By the end of gardening season my beds are always almost flat. Keep an eye on your emerging plants and transplants. Since you've done a lot of research you know those wood chips may tie up your nitrogen. I've never used wood chips, but I have used wheat straw. THINK SPRING!

[@KDOGGER11]

If possible, consider putting in a pond. Or even digging out a low spot, then draining into that. Adds a cool dynamic for birds and wildlife too.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

We have three ponds! I guess we need more 😅

[@KDOGGER11]

@@TheSeasonalHomestead hmm interesting, could you plow a ditch to one? My garden is in a drain area and I dug a small ditch/trench to funnel water out. Lined with rocks taken from my garden :) Might work in your application. Or possibly dig a small holding pond closer to the garden. Putting water loving plants in it could work to use up the water faster too. Essentially making a small wetland. Issue would be additional mosquitoes but a scope or two of fathead minnows helps. Also I harvest duck weed out of mine for a great fertilizer and/or chicken feed.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

@@KDOGGER11 The closest pond is maybe 400 ft away. The ditch might be doable but probably not something I would be able to tackle right away. I love that idea though. Garden is on a gentle slope already, but just not sloped enough to combat the massive rainfall amounts we get each spring and summer.

[@defineddisabledlife3463]

You should check out simply living Alaska at how they set up their garden going on 5 years ago. They have clay soil and use no till gardening

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

They have a great channel!

[@emptynestgardens9057]

I think you are supposed to be adding a thick layer of compost to the beds every Autumn. That would keep the beds raised above the paths. At least that is what Charles Dowding does. I've been doing this over the last 2 yrs but on a much much smaller scale than your beautiful homestead.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Yes, we do add compost twice a year but I definitely could add more!😊

[@jamesrichey]

It seems that a lot of the farmland has been degraded over the last 100 years due to our traditional practices. It will be up to the next generation of farmers to repair the damage done by those before us. Drainage issues can only be repaired by more organic matter in the soil.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Agree! We’re working on it!

[@m.d.t.8389]

My rocks tend to grow too 😂😂 Sometimes better than the plants 😮

[@michellemirk]

I am changing timelines then , lol! IT'S DONE JUAN!!! lol ;)

[@metoo2254]

How wide are your beds and your walking paths ? I'm putting beds in and am trying to decide how wide to make mine with everything considered. Yours look good and I would like to do the same to see if it works for me. Thank you for the videos they are very helpful 😊

[@hickoryhillinthebigwoods-r759]

How do your wooden soil block trays get water to the blocks of soil? I noticed you sprayed water into a plastic tray, but I don't understand how the water gets to the blocks. I am always impressed with what you accomplish and learn.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I use a wicking fabric under each tray that is cut long and then place the wood trays on metal baking sheets and fill them with water. The fabric soaks in the water. I got my fabric here www.gardeners.com/buy/capillary-matting/40-385.html

[@hickoryhillinthebigwoods-r759]

@The Seasonal Homestead I would love to see how that looks. I am a visual learner and I can't picture the set up. 😜 Does the bottom of wood tray have fabric instead of wood?

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I’ll mention it in a future video!

[@michellemirk]

Game was over along time ago, it's done! lol!!

[@earthzeroapothecary]

Depending on the variety, some Echinacea needs a short period of cold stratification.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Yes, you’re correct 😊 One of the benefits of starting seeds early and outside in my tunnel is that it happens naturally.

[@georgelowellohhdgg63nnd96]

could you please go over how you do your irrigation? Thanks in advance.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Yes, still figuring out how to do it honestly. But I’ll share when we get to that point.

[@georgelowellohhdgg63nnd96]

@@TheSeasonalHomestead Thanks.

[@JenniferMoleski]

5:34 You say that the most soil destruction you did was from broad forking ++. I broad fork my compacted, clay soil thinking I'm doing it good, is it really a disservice? Can anyone give me the 411?

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Broadforking is definitely GOOD, especially for compacted soil. Unfortunately some people think that even the broad fork is too much soil disruption (I get comments like this often from individuals on videos which is what I'm speaking to). I completely disagree. I think the people who are saying broad forking is like tillage may have naturally extremely loose, well draining, loamy soil and have never experienced clay. They had completely different context and they don't understand that compaction can cause a lot of harm to plants and the broad fork helps break and loosen it.

[@JenniferMoleski]

@@TheSeasonalHomestead Got it. Ok. That makes sense. Compacted clay soil is hard to understand unless you've been pitted against it. They've never wondered... "Should I make vases out of this clay soil and buy flowers from the florist to put in them, or should I try to actually _grow_ things in this clay soil? ..... Honey, how much is a kiln?"

[@lamia2845]

I learn so much watching your videos !! I wonder what are the trays and flat fabric you use for preparing your seed inside your tunnel ? I am searching ways to use natural materials rather than plastic. Your way to do it seems what I am looking for. What kind of fabric you use ? What kind of wood you use for the trays ? Do you put un layer of something to protect it ? The less I put plastic in the process the more I am happy. ;-) Thank you and God bless you all ! Lamia from France.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I’m going to talk about this in a future video. I can’t recall what kind of wood we used, but the plans are the book “The New organic grower” by Eliot Coleman. The fabric is a capillary mat. It’s seems very similar to felt material.

[@lamia2845]

@@TheSeasonalHomestead Thank you for the informations. I am eager to see this video. Lamia

[@amywebb4130]

Do you have videos about echinacea?

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

No, not yet!

[@elainechristensen81]

Is that frost blanket cut to size and added to your soil block trays? Do you attach it by stapling it or just leave it loose under the soil blocks? Thanks in advance! Love your family working together.

[@FC-cz6zd]

No till is great but not the be all to end all.

[@Thisisit120]

Are you going to show what you do with your echinacea when it comes up?

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Mostly will be for bringing in beneficial insects but I also use it for herbal tea.

[@impdanois5724]

Ï rather see children working in thé garden than spending their time with à smartphone👍👍👍👍👍

[@mundotazo]

You should lime and put in drain tiles. Sunken pathways won't help lower the water table. You need air in the soil. Run a soil test & get your calcium level up to recommenations. Tilling does not aerate your soil. Drainage issues are subsoil. sunken pathways or tilling won't fix it.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I test my soil yearly, and there is no way I’m adding lime since my soil in this garden is already ph 7. I agree that there may need to be a more permanent solution like drain tiles but it’s not happening this year so this is a temporary fix.

[@mundotazo]

What's the base saturation of Calcium and Magnesium? Ping me if you want help. Calcium is what opens up clay soils. Mag tightens it up. You need to balance the ratio of cations if you want to improve the tilith of the soil. It's not all about nutrient sufficiency, it's about the physics of the soil. Clays can be wonderful soils if you get balance between the cation elements. I've farmed on challenging soils. Gypsum has sulphate so you can ad calcium without increasing the pH like sweet lime and dolomite do. The air exchange below ground is the most important thing for the rhizoshphere.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

​ @mundotazo Thanks. For this part of the garden, magnesium is 11% and calcium is 84%. I don't pretend to be a soil expert by any means, but my soil test indicates both are pretty close to optimum. CEC is 17.3

[@theblacksheepgardener]

If the first step was tilling, I'm curious as to why we are referring to what was done as no till. I don't think it's fair to discount a method when it was not even the method that was used

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Have you ever read any no-till books? Every single one I’ve read recommends and initial plowing to add amendments and compost. That’s what I did. As I mentioned in the video, I scarcely disturbed the soil for the next 3 years. I’m still practicing no-till but not being so dogmatic about it. Also, I love the method, I realize the title makes it seem bad, but if you watch through you’ll notice I’m not being negative about no-till at all!

[@thesimplelife6037]

What tool did you use to move the soil over to plant the seeds? That looks pretty handy!

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I think you’re talking about the soil blocker. I’ve got it linked in the video description 😊

[@thesimplelife6037]

Whoops, should have checked there first! Thanks!!

[@LittleKi1]

How do you get contact between your sheet pans and the bottom of the soil blocks?

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Capillary matting

[@mf3610]

Once you reset would doing an annual addition of a few inches of compost each year be enough to keep it mounded?

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I always add compost but I don’t think I was adding enough. I’m hoping it will do the trick and I won’t need to lower walking paths again.

[@dewayneolson476]

What kind of clothe do you have under your soil block in the wooden holder?

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

It's a wicking fabric. I got it here www.gardeners.com/buy/capillary-matting/40-385.html

[@punjabseth260]

🌻🌼

[@clayflores8723]

What is that tool you use that makes the little squares of soil?

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

Soil blocker! It’s linked in the description.

[@theresatyree3090]

What soil mix do you use for your soil blocks? Mine do not hold together that well and when I punch them out the top third stays inside the contraption.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

It’s homemade. I have the video of how I make it linked in the description. More moisture might help with the sticking problem too.

[@alisalisa7961]

С любовью из солнечной России 🏖️⛄ и братской Белоруссии ☀️...лис 🦊🌛

[@m.d.t.8389]

What growing zone are you in?

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

6b

[@KarlKarsnark]

Smart move to discontinue the "No-Till" approach. There's nothing "wrong" with it, but it is by no means the best answer for all areas. There is no such "method" that works equally well in Alaska, Florida, New York and Hawai'i. On the contrary, every area has its own needs and wants, and it's our job to figure out what those are, and give them to the plants. Cheers from FL.

[@TheSeasonalHomestead]

I'm not discontinuing no-till, but needed to make some adjustments for my circumstances and not be so strict about it :) Totally agree with you that every area is different!

[@YasuTaniina]

You should tell your boys that you just taught them how to crochet and see how they react. Most boys would be like "Ok", other boys would be horrified 🤣