Excellent stuff. Totally seconded on the high cutting height and mulching rotation. Also love the Honey I Shrunk the Kids shot of Rufus. Keep it coming!
Very interest this seems like something good for the moist area I live in. Should I start with a wood chip base or can it be started directly on the ground. Also do you know will this method keep producing mushrooms or do you have to re-inoculate after harvest! Great video thanks
While you're capitalising on how easily plants absorb minerals through their leaves, I'd be very careful about using unfiltered tap water as your fertiliser carrier. Any heavy metals or other toxins in your town water are going straight into your plants! If you'd filter it before giving it to your children to drink, please filter it before spraying it on your garden.
Probably 4-6 inches from the pot. The real time this is harder is early before the roots are developed but as the season goes on the root will cross the distance to the olla. The roots are coming up around pots here at early August. They have definitely found the pot
I was super excited to find this video! I love learning about mushrooms. Two years ago I found a Morel growing next to my garden pathway. This year I have found 4. Once I identified the Morel, I have been trying to learn everything I can. I then noticed that I have between 8 - 10 different mushroom species growing on my property. The problem is that I am super nervous about my ability to properly identify them. I have a strong sense of self-preservation! I have several questions for you: 1. Do you have any favorite books, apps, or websites for learning to identify mushrooms in the wild? 2. Do you have any of the above for using (cooking/eating) or preserving mushrooms? 3. How did you prepare your mushroom bed? (I am going to search your videos to see if you've already made a video on it.) 4. I have an old-growth stand of trees that my home is nestled into. There are cedars, firs, and maples. Can I situate a bed in there? 5. How much sunlight does the bed need, if any? Yes, I am very interested in hearing more about your mushroom adventures.
Such great questions. First books. I would recommend the Audubon North American mushroom field guide for ID. I would also considered finding if there is a mycological society near you. Eating wild mushrooms is best done when an expert can teach you how to find the right ones. The prep for the bed was exactly like I showed I the video. Just layers of wood chip and spawn alternating. Each year I’ll add a new layer of hardwood wood chip in the spring. I would think that your old growth area would be a great spot for a bed. Do a bit of research or ask Google/chatGPT what species would grow best with those trees. Fungus form symbiotic relationships with certain tree roots so it is great to find ones that get along well. So fun that you’re getting into! Are mushrooms the coolest!
Sorry when I started typing I could see the end of the message. The bed doesn’t need any sunlight but wine cap mushrooms and oyster mushrooms can both tolerate some sun. The wine cap are much hardier in the sun
Both are great and will work with the steps in this video. The gpt I built and shared is through ChatGPT and will already be focused on garden information/ answers. If you want to use Claude, you will just want to specify in the first prompt that you want the AI to act as a garden expert.
Great info, but but one small critique. I don't look for cheap and easy in my garden. A yard is cheap and easy. I look for smart. Frequently smart ideas are also cheaper and easier, but sometimes it's smarter to work harder.
Totally. I think you make a good point. Aim for smart and you may get cheap and easy as well. At least with some of these ancient technologies they are so simple that they end up being cheap and easy as well
Great video, keep it up! I use double Ollas for potted plants 5 gal or more. Put a same sized terra cotta pot upside down over another. Use Silicone Sealant (caulking) to glue them together. Double water, have to fill it even less often.
Half the diameter?! Everywhere else said around 18inches! This could be part of my (plants) problem lol! I don't think it's watering for 18". Maybe that's only for the doubled ones? (Doubled: two pots same size, only plug one. Glue the "mouths" together. You'll have to dig a much deeper hole, but holds more water. For covering the now smaller top hole what I've tried so far was to glue a small piece of pvc (1-2 inches long) over the inlet then just use the correct size "cap" for that size pvc pipe. I'm thinking of trying to use some smaller saucers next year (once I can double another olla or two) and see how that works. Currently slugs still find there way into some of them (not the one with a pipe over the opening). Really want to keep them out. Second year of this and mosquitoes found their way into one. I crushed a bit of a mosquito dunk and put inside. Seems to have done what it's supposed to. Just adding my experience. 🙂 I will try putting these closer together once I can get some more!
The doubles do seem to water a bit further out. I still like the singles because then I can get the slugs and mosquitos out when I get access during refilling. But I think preference is important! Mostly because of the frost here I’ve got to make adjustments! Thanks for sharing and good luck!
@@Kat-kv8mm I haven’t had a terrible time with slugs as of yet. When I refill my Ollas I look do slugs around the upper rim of the pot and try and get them to wash down and drown. I may need to keep thinking of solutions if slugs get more tricky though!
Dang! A little clay pot here (GA) is like $10! Ack! My collection of ollas is going very slowly. I use gorilla glue - moisten the clay pot - then just glue a rock to the inside hole (& if desired once dry glue a piece of plastic to the bottom for double protection. Cut it out from whatever you have lying around - like a rubbing alcohol bottle or milk jug, just whatever is available. 🙂) I also flipped over the "tops," and glued some lava rock pieces in it and fill it with water too for the bees and butterflies. Till it dries out anyway. Trying to get better at refilling the tops (& bottoms 😂) more frequently.
I LOVE the lava rock idea for the tops. I’ve turned a bunch of mine over and the good bugs and toads do seem to like it. Great idea to put some rocks such in there! Thanks!
You are in Minnesota where it freezes. Even if you go to the trouble of removing them before the first hard freeze. You are describing a very labor intensive, high maintenace system with a potential for catastrophic failure as soon as it freezes, which, where you are, is a certainy.
I am going to do some tests unplugging and leaving some pots in the ground to see how it goes, but even if I have to pull them up in the fall I don’t mind. It’s a much easier system for me personally. I love that there are no moving parts.
@@elliothuemann Like me, so it seems, each year your gardens become a place for wonderful experiements. I loved terracota / clay pots for many years, just something gardeny about them. But breakage became too much to overcome. I apply the Ollas concept but used recycled plastic plant buckets , drill holes in them near the bottom and then add fabric to slow the drainage. Seek function over form and let form follow in this case. I also fill them half full of compost (often plant specifc like banana peel soup for tomatoes) before I add water. I want those Ollas to fill themselves and keep working on how. Rain capture makes the most sense but here we may not get much rain from late June until late October. That means water storage in rain barrels. As I approach 80 years old, I focus more and more on low maintainence, sustainable methods. I still try new things each year, like converting 3'x20' area where Lambs ear grew into a place where I can grow squash and melons. Lots of insects have been happy there for many years. So here comes the dishsoap spray. Good Luck-nice work!
Not quite. This method would work well with oyster mushrooms and a few others, but it won’t work well with shiitake because other fungus will colonize more quickly than the shiitake. I grow my shiitake in hardwood logs 🪵
I encourage you to start using 6-8 inches of straw mulch on all of your beds. It does 4 things at once. One, it is a weed barrier. Two, it adds organic material and nutrients as it decomposes. Three, it retains moisture. Four, the light color reflects light aka heat. It is by far the best drought protection you can have in your part of the USA. I used to live in MIchigan our weather was similar to yours. This approach saved my garden more than once, while all around me people gave up. All the lawns were golden brown and as were most small gardens; watering became too expensive. Three years ago I moved to Western Oregon about 40 miles from the coast. Climate change has turned this area into a very drought prone place. A large bail of straw (do not use hay-too many seeds) is $15.00. It is available cheaper directly from local farms. My raised beds cover 128 sq ft. Last year one bale was more than enough. In late fall I covered my beds with black plastic so the very heavy rain that falls during the months-long rainy seasons wouldn’t wash away too much soil. I think the straw may mitigate this soil loss going forward. This spring, I added a great garden soil mix on top of the straw before planting. Just a light cover. Once most plants were in I spread this year’s straw mulch on top of the soil and around the plants. BTW the watering system you abandoned would have been completely obscured by a straw mulch cover, but more, it would have made it more efficient. I do not like to spend a lot of time with what I call maintenance watering. I am installing a Orbit $35 flometer/timer to manage maintenance watering, mainly to ensure I do not over water. I am retired so I am around 90% of the time. I hand water to apply plant specific nutrients. (If you still have the old stuff in the video I will pay the shipping for you to send it to me. I could use it.) This year less than 1/2 bale covered. Ollas work. And you can add plant specific amendments like banana water for tomatoes. I have a great area on my north side to put in mushroom beds and other cold, need shade crops.
@@elliothuemann I think you will love it but at least 4 inches but no more than 8 works very well. Right now it is 90 degrees outside for hours but if I stick my hand down thru the straw and it all wet/damp.
Yes straw is a fantastic “substrate” (food source) for mushroom spawn. It will be eaten up more quickly but will provide a boost to the mycelium growing
Thanks for sharing your setup! I've grown mushrooms in the box kits a few times but am a big fan of the set it and forget it approach so this is a great idea to try out!
Wonderfully thought out and presented, and a new method of olla I have never seen before! I may have to try one in my high desert climate to see if it's as effective as the narrow neck ollas. Here, one of those will need refilling every 24-36 hours in July and August. I have my ollas fed by my automated watering system and it saves me huge swaths of time. One of my viewers told me about this video and I'm glad they did. Great work!
Thank you so much! And thanks to your viewer. I really appreciate the share. If you give it a test let me know how it goes. I’d love to hear about the experiment. 🔬
Honestly, I liked both colors. The first color that was on the cabinet looked nice and crisp and this one looks a little bit deeper, but I think both of them looked really good.
Thank you for saying that. I totally think we could have kept them the color they were, but now that we’ve redone the floors (video in couple weeks) this new color really pops.
Thank for such clear and simple directions! I'm so tired of dragging my garden hose around and I don't like the way soaker hoses look either. I like the way the pots look, neat and tidy, and there's no hoses to trip on or kink up. I'm going to try this. 🙂
No but you will add a step. The main thing you will want to think about is having a good primer, probably oil based or shellac based. So it will add an extra step of foam rolling on that before putting on the high-quality paint. The primer will stop woodgrain patterns from coming through. After you put on the first coat of primer, you can see what the textures like and if you like it or not. Obviously the paint will add extra layer, but you may want to add a second coat of primer if you want it even smoother. Likely a single coat of primer will do enough.
