Part 2 of 12. Back to Eden Start a Organic Gardening Method 101 Soil Improvement with Wood Chips Garden Series Part 2. Growing/ building healthy soil. See composting leaves organic matter. Deep Mulch Gardening for beginners.
VIDEO: Back to Eden Organic Gardening Method 101 Soil Improvement with Wood Chips Garden Series Part 2
Part 2 of 12. Back to Eden Start a Organic Gardening Method 101 Soil Improvement with Wood Chips Garden Series Part 2. Growing/ building healthy soil. See composting leaves organic matter. Deep Mulch Gardening for beginners.
Lost my Peach trees to two brutal winters.. Looking at apple now.
Mark, from where did you get that microscope? I love it and showed to my kids this vid. They loved it too! Well, my oldest, teenager of course was too cool for it but all the others loved it! 🙂
By the way, I just started doing some hydroponics/aereponics for winter experimenting.. Do you have any thoughts on this method?
Mark how do you feel about aerating grass ? Too much disturbance?
Thank you so much
Fascinating, thank you! Did you compare temperatures between different soils, ie with/without roots? I will need to get a probe and compare my green-manured allotment bed with someone else's bare, sterile one come Spring!
Love, love, love that magic under our feet! Great vid, thanks for taking the time to do that!
Thanks Mark I learn something new every time I watch your videos they are very good for us backyard gardeners 🙂
Hi Mark,
I went out to my garden and dug up a cylinder of soil just like you did. I have a cover of winter rye, hairy vetch, winter peas, and crimson clover that I planted in late September. I was very pleased at the thick root structure and the plug held together beautifully, just like yours. However, I was looking carefully for nitrogen fixing nodules on the roots and didn't see any. Should I be concerned? Is it too early in the growth of the cover for those nodules to be visible?
Hello Mark, Thank you very much for your great work in explaining and showing the soil food web in action. Being in zone 3b it is motivating to know that things may be slow, but they are still alive and working away, as long as there are living roots. I would have liked to see soil sample from an area without cover crop to visualize the difference. All the best from Central Alberta!!
Outstanding!
Hi Mark,
I'm going to be ordering my bareroot peach and apple trees within the next few weeks. What variety/varities of peach trees did you plant? How did you make that decision? Any advice/experience on apple varities would also be greatly appreciated. I'm in zone 7A (toms river, NJ) Thanks
Dear I Am Organic Gardening. You stated that woodchips don't improve soil. If that is so, then I'm wondering how come all the garden plots around our house have improved greatly just by adding woodchips? It seems to me that woodchips made all the difference improving Paul's Back to Eden Garden so many years ago. How would you explain these results, then?
Hi, Mark. I'm about to lay down wood chips mixed with other organic matter on my plot for the first time to start my BTE garden. Since I live in zone 8a and can grow food 365 days a year, do I even need any other live covering? Are the roots of vegetables themselves inadequate for keeping my soil alive?
If so, do you have a video or can you provide any information showing when to plant a live covering and how much or what percentage of my plot needs covered with plants?
How long after planting a live cover do I need to wait before planting vegetables?
I noticed your live covering is planted in rows. Are these rows planted in wood chips or are they planted in bare soil with wood chips laid down between the rows?
Do they spread and begin to cover the unplanted areas of wood chips? If so, should I prevent this from happening?
Do I plant between the rows, or go ahead and plant seeds among the live covering as well? I'm concerned that either way my vegetables will soon be overrun by any live covering, especially in my zone. How do I keep this from happening? Or should I just let everything grow together?
I've seen other BTE gardens that do not appear to have any live covering; only vegetables, and they appear to be doing fantastic. I'm interested in hearing your opinion about this.
Thanks, Mark!
What device is that you use to check for Bactria? Also can you see nematodes with out one? I was looking at my soil and say a few white stringy wigglers in there.
Hi Mark, I have learned so much about the soil web from you. I've got garbage soil under my lawn/sod. Been that way since we bought the property new, nearly 10 years ago. We've got regular old grass, some clover, and unknown weeds. I think this year I will add a grid of sunflowers 1 lawn mower width apart. I should be able to get a 3 by 7 grid in. My hope is that they work and produce nice rich soil. Again thanks for the education. Cheers, Bill
Thank you for taking the time money and efort to teach me and the public the right way to raise food and care for the environment. I believe it is important .
Great advice. I'm going to use trees and cheap upright plants that won't get covered by chips. I wish I started with perennial sunflowers. For the main upright cover crops I was thinking of using free maple and black locust seed, winter rye, corn, raspberries, and asparagus. You should use some tillers (tillage radish, parsnips…).
Cool microscope. How much does something like that cost? How do you know the bacterial life shown comes from the soil and not the water? I would think you should check a sample of the water by itself before adding the soil.
Thanks for such an amazing information
Would it be too late now (dec 20) to seed a cover crop?
Easy to understand because you use common language and no scientific jargon. Is there any way one can start mycorrhizal colonies in a garden without buying it? I heard the commercial stuff isn't very effective.
okay… when I first started watching this, I didn't think I'd continue. Fortunately I stayed with it and found it amazing! (guess I wasn't in the "learning" mode at first). You must be a teacher or professor with your vast knowledge and your ability to cause some folks like me to care about what we didn't think we cared about. I'm just getting back into gardening after 8 yrs or so of giving it up due to so much plant failure due to "exhausted" soil. I've had chickens forthe last couple years now & my soil is becoming "healthy" again so am excited about getting back "in the loop". Boy, things have changed during those years and the value of the internet with so much information… Incredible! So, thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn about the soil… I really appreciate it and am now subscribing. Keep up the great work!
Are those roots from the cover crop? I purchased a home in August and have been removing Bermuda grass and planting cover crops. They have been germinating but aren’t growing much. I am in zone 7 and have some nights in the 20’s. I wondered if any thing was going on in the soil. Can I expect the cover crops to grow as it warms up in the spring?
Great video. Thanks for posting. The microscope part is mind blowing !
mark how do I get a living root in the ground now its January in zone 5b-6a….. can I plant winter rye in the early spring and still chop and drop?…. or do I plant crimson clover in spring and use it as "living mulch"?…. or do I have to wait until next fall to have a cover crop?… thank you my friend!
Needed to watch this again! There is no alternative to living roots in ground all year. Dead of winter, still life going on. Wow, was trying to convince myself, ground is froze, what good is a living root?
will watering your garden with chlorinated water kill the bacteria?
2 Corinthians 9:6 Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. We were given clear instructions and all of the information you share confirms. The plants are not competing against one another when you are growing soil.