I just bought 5 acres and close next Monday and am dedicating a whole section to a food forest with the wood chip and raised garden bed combo you’ve been a huge inspiration can wait to show the results
@@Sms135ftw well had to restart we placed a septic field in that area as it was the only thing suitable but we got a new area and it’s doing quite well for being on its first year again
Good stuff, James. A follow-up if I may: Wood ash (pot ash) was the original source for potassium. In fact, the mineral gets its name from pot-ash-ium. It's great stuff, but it should be added directly to the garden before it gets wet or rained on, as the other beneficial minerals will leach out quickly. If using ashes from the fireplace or woodstove, be sure there is no coal ash in it (no BBQ briquette ash either), or it will poison your garden. It's the same stuff that power plants produce, and it contains a ton of heavy metals you don't want to ingest.
The issue with this video, and I love James, is that the K in potash is 100% water soluble. It's not to be used as a soil amendment or in a compost pile, but as a water soluble feed. Basically the best practice is to top dress existing plants, not amend compost or bare soil. The water soluble nature of the potash means all the K washes into the soil the first rain. If You have plants established they can use this soluble potash as it drains past their roots, but it's gone after that so to apply it not to a plant directly is wasting it. So use it sparingly and in specific and direct feeding applications not as a soil or compost amendment
@@Thee-_-Outlier On its own, yes, but when used in conjunction with biochar, either as an additive to straight char or wood ash mix, it will be absorbed into the char and reused. This is why terra preta works so well and is so important to use in your garden.
@@UrbanGardeningWithD.A.Hanks14 I use biochar aka lump charcoal in my gardens and yes CHUNKS of it are great for holding microbe populations, but he wasn't adding biochar. All I saw in that bucket was grey potash from his fireplace, no black chunks left that i could see. I would also reword what you are trying to say because biochar and potash are just different there is no benefit or need to be "combined". Use biochar in the capacity you stated and the potash in the capacity I stated. That is how both should be used and it has nothing to do with combining them as a soil amendment. I stick to potash is a water soluble feed. Biochar is a soil conditioner that also holds denser microbe populations
@@Thee-_-Outlier We're both saying similar things, but my point is that the biochar will absorb that potassium and store it, even in that water soluble form. That's why forest fires produce such fertile soils. The charcoal will absorb those nutrients, feed them back and then reabsorb them over and over. It's why terra preta still works 800 years later. Charcoal powder will absorb and give off much quicker, whereas the chunks will be the thermal mass, so to speak. Adding bone meal for P will also be absorbed into the char as well as eggshell and drywall powder for calcium.
@@UrbanGardeningWithD.A.Hanks14 I see what you're saying more so now. I'd still say best practice is not tilling into the compost even with biochar. If anything it has to be a more wasteful way to apply the K. That said it wouldn't be a total waste given the water retention, but really that feature applies to vermiculite, perlite and other soil conditioners used to retain moisture. My beds are hugelkukture beds so in the same way as biochar my logs would retain some of the water soluble fertilizers same as biochar. I'm not saying logs are as good in total as biochar but for this one purpose it would be in essence the same
I LOVE YOUR SHOW! It’s one of my favorite gardening channels! I’ve learned a lot from you!!! Keep it up….you’re awesome! & I love Tuck! He’s probly my favorite part😆
Last year I began saving egg shells, letting them dry out, crush them and then grinding them in an old bladed coffee grinder. Over the winter we got a couple of pounds of eggshell powder. Add to the garden and compost where needed. I store it in ziplocs.
I've gardened for many years from Alaska to Arizona and in between. I thoroughly enjoy watching your videos! Tuck is a great sidekick too. Thank you for making these! I sent links to my daughter who is beginning to garden and she likes them very well too!
You can tell Tuck is used to being treated well and loved. He completely trusts you and is completely spoiled in the good way of being treated like pet royalty. It's a pleasure to see a little creature happy, healthy & feeling "large & in charge".
When we lived in central Florida we worked an egg farm. When they took chickens out they took sawdust and manure and spread it throughout the orange grove. They would sift it over my garden spots and i would take the tractor and till it in. Best fertilizer i ever used. Sure miss gardening.
Great advice. I learn a way to grow tomatoes for the disabled. I'm in a wheelchair but I enjoy to do gardening. my self and I love tomatoes. I have a gate in front of the entrance. When the tomato is ready to be planted on my balcony when they get long I push it toward the outside where they get plenty of sun. The flowers grow up and the leaves grow down. I cut the bottom so it doesn't get anything crawling up. The best thing is that I pick them from the balcony by putting my hands through the holes..
I love that you are still making great videos even after the main growing season is over. My food forest is just 2 years old, but I have learned a lot by watching your videos. Thanks for all the inspiration!
Thanks brother! I’m glad you have a Food Forest or your own growing, so cool. Your welcome! I love making the videos so I will continue to be creating them, I’m always doing something in the garden. I bet that’s similar with you 😁
The Gardening Channel With James Prigioni oh yeah, always in the garden. Sometimes I just stare at the food forest forever just imagining what I will do next :)
I too am in the pnw. After years of saving and searching I finally purchased a beautiful 20acre piece of land. Spring water and a creek with tons and tons of wild berries. Been here four months so I have many years of work ahead of me but couldn't be more excited about it. The plan is to make something bigger than just me. Sure I want to feed my family but I also want to feed folks who need it. I want to make the world a better place. Voluntary cooperation, self governance, and ya permaculture. This is how we save the world. Peace
All year we save most of our eggshells in a separate designated countertop kitchen compost. We take it out to the garden area in an open 5 gallon container to dry and breakdown. Once they are crispy enough, We pulverize them. Until a dust is formed. (I suppose you could use a blender but Hard work never killed anyone) We scatter this around in the beds. They breakdown happens slowly and helps keep away bottom end rot for out tomatoes. New this year, we used a bit of the bio char chunks and pieces from our wood stove sprinkled in some of the beds 😮 🤞 We have faith that we’re not over doing it with amendments and all will be beneficial. Thanks for your channel. Super easy follow along. Garden On!!
Enjoyed your video . . You’re fortunate to have a ready source of manure. I’ve been making my own compost, and it has really improved the plant growth. Like your little puppy. Stay well!!! 😷
Such a young man but yet sharing a world of knowledge. Excellent videos. Sure wish I could see results of this video's hard work. Being the finished compost. Thanks
I love tuck and how he help you out, I just started my garden I pray my garden look 👀 something like your one day. Love what you do. Keep the knowledge coming🙏😊
Awesome lesson as usual James and Tuck helped too to put the tarp down properly.. Haha.. I love your video's.. they have inspired me greatly .. thank you ..
I love watching your videos! I have been gardening for the past 40 years but you have taught me a lot! I especially love watching Tuck also! He is such a big helper and I dont think you could do it without him. Lol... He is so dang cute!!!
Hi there James and Tuck :) Dont know if you read the comments on these older posts, but just wanted to let you know that YOU are a God sent gardener. You are truly my favorite to learn from and your advices are spot on. You seems like such a nice guy, the kind you would go have a beer with, lol. Anyways, just wanted to say a huge thank you to take the time to do all these helpfull videos. May you and your family be blessed. Take care James!
i use an old coffee bean grinder to pulverize the egg shells. I mix pulverized egg shells, bone meal, epsom salt, and a liberal amount of year old compost mixed together to my planting holes for my tomatoes. my mix is about 1/2 cup of the egg shells, 1 cup bone meal, 2 ounces of epsom salt and 5 gallons of compost. tomatoes love this starter mix and get established very quickly. I've noticed an increase of about 40-50% more tomatoes over the 4 years that I've been doing this.
Thank you!! Your quotes from other gardeners are very useful and help me to better understand what you're doing and why you're doing it my garden at home although new is looking so good compared to my first three decades of attempting to try to have plants which usually ended up in failure. Thank you for helping to keep us motivated and moving forward and continuing to try regardless of setbacks we love your channel we love what you do and how you do it!! ❤❤❤
You could of dug a pit for which to contain the compost directly in the garden. Put it where you need it. From the beginning. You can actually till that mix directly into your garden soil. Plus you can get Stump Rot to speed up the attraction of bugs and insects to the pile. The dog was Looking for his Scooby Snacks
I've been composting for decades here in Alaska. Took me 20 years of failure until a smart coworker said to cover it with a VBL to keep the heat of vaporization from cooling it off. So now I inherited a 3'x3' Mantis tumbler and I LOVE it! It cooks up to 150 no problem if you get the ratios right. Kills all the weed seeds, fly eggs, potato scab etc. It saves a bunch of time and looks good too. I've used the roller tumbers (on the ground) and will never do that again. Now I get so much compost- 5 loads in our short season- fast composting is important up here.
Beautiful compost pile! At one time I saved rain water in plastic buckets to water my compost pile -- to avoid the chlorine in the treated water. Also I made a bacteria starter in a bucket using dirt, water, kitchen scraps and a sprinkle of compost builder. After that brewed a while, I'd pour that on a freshly assembled pile. There is no greater joy than seeing happy worms in a compost pile! Cheers to you and Tuck!
Daddy used to pat my horse , Apache, on the rump & say "my little fertilizer factory", & loved our chickens too & added their shells to the compost pile/pit. He made a cover-lid from painted outdoor plywood. a bent coat hanger handle
I love Tuck hes so cute and helpful!! This video is very helpful to me I have a pretty big backyard with lots of land behind it I'm going to try and turn it into a giant garden like you, I've been doing it for a few now , You are so inspiring to watch!!
Crushed eggshells spri kled around a snail's favorite crop will deter the snails. It's like broken glass to them. Love your enthusiasm, James! Thank You!
I never think about it. I just chuck whatever I have for my compost in the pile. Anything that breaks down goes in, even paper and cardboard. I always get fab compost.
Recently found my passion for gardening again, and I have to say, I love your videos! So much information, and you stick to the topic! Your inclusion of the coolest dog, Tuck. AND the way you present it all. Many greetings from Norway! Hope you are all good in these times btw :)
I’ve start to add wood ashes to my nicrogreens n my body reacts like crazy to it and also I’ve added a spoon of ash to my water culture orchid and it’s also growing roots and looks damn healthy
My pile is about 5 by 6, and sometimes 5 tall. Shrub trimmings pre processed by mulching mower. Changed from all clay garden to black in 3 years, still more to learn and get dirty
I hear you David. Bought our current home 11 years ago which was a rental property. Previous renters poured calinche in the backyard for added parking. Finally raked it all out to find red clay! Years of amendments is paying off though
These videos and the comments are so helpful and inspiring it makes my heart soar like a hawk. Problem is tho nothing grows in my soil. It's clay like cement. I've gardened probly 20 years, spent beauceau money on seeds and stuff, reaped about $3 worth of food. You talk about your balance well there's your balance.
Many people garden successfully on clay. The trick is to ALWAYS keep the soil covered with a permanent mulch. i.e. no til / no dig gardening. Check out Charles Dowding's work on RU-vid. He's a commercial gardener and has pure clay to work with. Best of luck.
I keep my eggshells in a bowl on top of my kitchen cupboard, and blend them once a month and keep in a jar. I feed some to my worms and add some to compost heap. Grinding it up helps release minerals.
Hi James, I use the same method as you. I use 24” compost thermometer to assess when to turn my pile. When I cover my pile I put an old milk crate on top to trap air in there. Awesome video!
I pulverize my eggshells into powder, as well as dehydrated banana peels. I just put scoops in the planting holes. Right now I have a bunch of ash that I could use... but I started burying my stuff (limbs, partially broken down compost pile, coffee grounds & filters, pulverized veggies, leaf material, etc) in the ground, then replaced the dirt, and added some compost on top. First time trying, all I know is the worms have been partying over there. 😄
Love love love your video!!! The best I've ever watched on gardening !!! You are not only educational but fun 🤣😂. I should have done agricultural science in school instead of my useless degree ! Anyway I love gardening but such a novice at it . I'll keep watching . God bless 🙋♀️
Great work James. I built 4 compost bins using wood pallets from the paint store. about 3.5 cubic yards. NOW I have your formula for HOT COMPOSTING. I have to decide about my seeds and planting orders for the spring. Later on today I vacuum up my leaves with a shreeder vacuum electric tool. Handy tool. Hugs to Tuck.
The purpose of the 3×3 pole is to insulate the core . At mimumn throw a tarp over the pile . To help retain the heat . I use fiberglass insulation when its available or carpet . Cardboard.
I love how Tuck helps with everything. Do you know if it’s safe to use the ash from Traeger pellets in my compost? Also, do you wash the eggshells before adding them to your compost pile?
I do it similar. But none of the big stuff that you added at the bottom, takes forever to break down. -Grass, leaves , ash, old beer from the bottom of the cans people leave behind, coffee grounds, egg shells, veggie scraps, old paper towels chicken poop from the coop.. I water it so it doesn’t cook too much and just turn to ash itself. Flip it with a pitch fork and the repeat... after winter passes I top my garden beds. When spring hits I add steer manure and dolomite lime and depending, peat moss.
I’m a new gardener James I love your character and your little dog I have a 1/4 acre section and I’ve put in 4 gardens I just bought 7 fruit tress but I don’t know where to put them...haha but I’m learning heaps from you Thankyou for the time and effort you are putting into doing this I have 3 compost piles going was a lot of effort but should be ready for spring here in New Zealand
I’m gona give it a try, I’ve had vegetable matter in the spinning compost bin for years & I have a few 65lt bags of leaf matter & loads of coffee grinds & ground egg shells, I only have a small purchased bag of pot ash, but I’ll give it a go & see what happens ☺️
Love watching your videos! I'm going to try a hot compost pile wth leaves, ash, greens from weeds and some eggshells. I also have an anaerobic compost pile that takes forever to decompose! Thanks for your videos, Tuck, and for sharing your philosophy that really touches me.
Been watching your channel for about three maybe four months really enjoy it. I have learned a lot from your channel and I thank you for that, and little tuck he’s a good looking boy. I just wanted to say I enjoy your videos they’re very informative thanks for sharing. God bless.
Love your channel, man! I'm 36 and have just started my first garden this year. The info and way of explaining you give or excellent. The thing that made me definitely know i needed to subscribe to your channel was when i heard The Avett Brothers playing on your videos. Great choice in music along with the wealth of knowledge when it comes to gardening.
James, I tried that very same method, but after several years of messing with collecting the stuff, and trying to keep it wet, I just throw everything onto the garden. I let it break down naturally, similar to what Paul Gautschi does. I know he has chickens, but I've heard him say to let the decomposition process take place in the area you want. Just my experience. I even bought a composting bin. I wasn't happy with the results. Right now, I've got my garden area and asparagus covered in about 10 inches of leaves and a little bit of grass clippings. I may add more, this next week. I really don't have access to wood chips, but this time of year, I have plenty of access to leaves. Talking about the brown to green ratio, I heard 7 to 1. Just what I heard. 50-50 should work too.
derek a I’ve been gardening for over two decades. The best part is there isn’t much you can do wrong. Granted, sometimes your harvest is better than others, but plants wants to grow.
@@songbirdforjesus2381 Hot composting should break down e-coli and other bacteria so that they don't pose a threat by putting the compost on your garden.
SusanBailey AmazingEstate Probably the ONE thing you could do wrong that will destroy your garden for several years is to mix wood chips into the soil. They will lock up the nitrogen untill they're finished decaying... and then give it back to you. In the meantime, you won't harvest a thing. Wood chips work... if they're used as permanent mulch.
I occasionally eat mussels, I save the shells, and bake them at 500 degrees for about 30 minutes. (I will put any egg shells I have along with them). When they cool off, they can easily be crushed or put in a blender and powdered to either add to the compost are apply directly to the garden.
I will definitely use this method to make my compost this year ..🎉 Thank you James and Tuck , i had a little kick of laughter seeing Tuck flatten the tap around the compost pile 😅
I process my eggshells before adding to garden. I collect and put in oven at 170 for 10-20 minutes until all moisture out. Then pop them in a bullet (small smootie) blender and grind until powder form. This makes it quicker for plant to absorb
Thank you! Honestly the best tutorial I've come across for this. I find you really inspiring and its motivating to watch how passionate you are about gardening. I also love the background music, who does the credit go to?
The music is “Ten Thousand Words” by the Avett Brothers. I just watched the video and liked the song too. I know it’s been 3 years since you asked, but thought I’d answer in case you never found out.
I go out in my forest and have piles of leaves. Chicken doo that I have been cultivating for 20 years. I mix 6 year composted old wood chips and straw rotting logs and forest dirt. I also add egg shell ash. I add logs of varying decay on the bottom or pit under the soil.
I recycle all my kitchen scraps and ashes too from our fireplace. So it’s good to see how you implement that in the compost. Good Job Tuck! Love you both!
