Create Living Soil, Good Compost, & Intensive Growth in your home garden. 

I dig holes about a foot deep in my flowerbeds/vegetable beds and dump all my kitchen compost (crushed up eggshells, coffee and tea grounds, vegetable peels, overripe bananas, fruits and vegetables from our refrigerator that have spoiled), toilet paper rolls, paper from the shredder, and leaves. I once had hard red clay soil and now I have rich dark soil with earthworms. No turning compost in bins, no worries about my greens and browns, and no expense. Anyone can do what I do. I will turn 67 in a few months.

Even our plants show intelligent design.

Literally NOTHING is wasted here! If we don’t eat it, chickens will, or worms will or it goes in the garden composting. I’d rather hang out with my chickens and my worms than most people❤️❤️❤️❤️

This content should be elemental in each & every school on earth. I can't understand how you can't resist the amazing power and balance of natural ecosystems. Gardening is maybe the most satisfying thing in our lives it really should become a subject.

I knew commercial fertilizer for our plant food contributes mostly to our illnesses. I was a farmer’s daughter. My father refused to use fertilizer that the government demanded him to use in our farm. My father use the old way of fertilizing our farm. I knew this is, because my grandfather died at the age of 104 and never saw a doctor. Now a days they have plants especially fruits, GMO. My father said if you find worm it means it safe to eat. No pesticides.

I can't believe I've been gardening for59 years and can't do what you have done. Not dead yet, I'll keep learning, ...maybe next year I'll get there. Thank you for helping and growing. John rabeler

Can you imagine how healthy the world would be if everyone followed these methods? From garden to small and larger farms... Just think of the World of wonderful food that would create!💖🌱🌼

You just warmed the heart of an old vegetarian... Very inspiring and "simple is beautiful".

This is such an amazing video. Thanks. I've been gardening like this since the 1960s, I was in grade school. I'm 73 years old now. Your work should be continuously aired on tv to reach as many people as possible to educate as many people as possible to the benefits of what they can do. God bless you. You are my hero.

Thank you so much. I have taken college level classes on soils and I just learned more useful information from you in this video than I did in an entire semester.

What a remarkably well made 'story' about soil science! I learned a lot of this, to successfully grow (and teach/demonstrate) pretty food gardens in Arizona. Then I used some of these methods in inner-city community gardens, in Oklahoma. Now, I'm replacing a steep 'lawn' with annual crops and berry bushes, in Northern Minnesota. Edible landscapes are the only practical way to use a property. Tom Bartels... You are such a gift!

I've been over my father's everyday and noted his soil was just like dust. No organic matter added. My dad is a neat freak and leaves and mulch bother him. He can no longer work in his yard so I've been adding all foliage and petals back to the flowerbeds. I bury it so dad isn't disturbed by an untidy appearance. Now there are lots of worms and casting piles all over the garden. I even started a worm bin in his backyard. Free range worms under his avocado tree. The change has been amazing! The neighbors are now giving me dropped fruit to add to the yard. It's had a great ripple effect.

Today I spent my better day mentally thinking about how I can engage in agriculture, especially in food growing without introducing my plants and farm to external factors such as pesticides or external manure. Then this evening as I returned from work I found this exact video teaching about natural fertilizers and compost manure. Today I begin my lessons by following and practicing what I shall learn from your educational videos. Thank you for reaching out to the world. Our governments have a long way to go.

You should have RU-vid channel on your garden and do more videos …..really enjoyed this😍

Amazing video, everyone should watch this. Not many people remember to treat the microbacteria inside their own bodies well, same with their soil.

Hello Tom. I have just found you. What an outstanding tutorial., many thanks. You are now my gardening Guru. Although I am 74 I’m looking forward to going through your channel and learning more.

I’ve never seen a presentation like this. It’s so informative thank you

I've picked up a lot of this information here and there over time, but for some reason it never really clicked for me until I watched this video. It's a bit like studying history, it's all a bunch of names and dates until you build a framework to reference new information with. Thanks for this video, I'm going to go start a worm garden and learn how to compost properly.

A perfect balance of who, what, when and why in less than 40min. I love composting and this video has inspired me to take it to another level. I also live in Southwest Colorado a little over 6500ft. Thanks again and maybe I'll see ya around. Haha!

Thank you for telling us where you are gardening. I’ve been looking for someone gardening here. I’m from Alaska and this is all different. I’m in Montrose. Thanks.

This is impressive. Currently our startup company is producing tons of compost to help small holder farmers. Thank you!

In my worm bins I add wine bottles particularly filled with water and corked. If cools the wrigglers in the summer and warms them in the winter (if water starts to freeze it gives off heat).

I believe God has shown me this method over the past few years and I’m getting great results like you. It’s interesting to see a video showing this kind of gardening. It really does work and gets better and easier each year.

Thank you for being this generous with the information

Thanks for this vid! There are a lot of videos on this topic that just don't dive into the specifics. I showed this to my room mate who is helping to start a back yard market garden that doesn't have much of a bio-chem background, and they weren't lost in a morass of terminology. That is a fine line to follow! Accessible information is the best information! 😍

I am just starting vermiculture and composting this year for my flower farm. This information is exactly what I need. Thank you.

This was such a comprehensive video and I learned so much I can implement in my backyard garden. I have a compost pile and have been researching vermiposting and love how you show that these go beautifully hand in hand. I am gardening in New Mexico which is quite a different ball game than Eastern Washington State where the soil was black! I appreciate this video and your sharing so much with us free of charge!

I used double-dig methods to grow our food, when I lived in Tucson. The soils in the desert are a real serious challenge. My laying hens shared a fence-line with my veggie and produce. In the middle of the afternoon, a tall wire fence shaded the garden. The wire fence supported cherry tomatoes, climbing beans, and melons. We bought meat for a couple of meals per week, and I baked our bread, early in the morning, before leaving for work.

I have a hard time making compost, but you have made it clear how 🤔 to do it. I think I'll try it again.

Tom, we like your video , greeting from malaysia

This is the best block of gardening instruction I have ever received.❤❤ thank you!

That was a great hands on lesson proff. I am very enlighten on composting and rhizosphere development in gardening. Keep it up.

I’ve never added worms to a compost bin. Get the material in and they just arrive. Also I use those plastic bins you don’t like and never had a problem. I don’t turn it either. I have back issues so don’t do any heavy work I don’t need to. I do however add rain water and I drive a metal pole in to keep it aerated. If I’m emptying a pile I will add any woody materials that aren’t fully composted into the new pile and a spade full of the newly finished compost.

Thanks to this video, I think I now see what I was doing wrong with my first composting endeavors. Recovering from that fail, I now have the beginnings of a worm colony and am inspired to know, with this, at least, I'm more likely on the right track. I had no idea gardening could be so much fun until recently. Just getting into it. Thank you for this post.

Must things for before starting an orchard! I've been for one year hard working and building composter bins, vermicompost and a system that nurture the soil with more than 1000 liters of hummus per year, just then started to grow veggies and the outcome is really impressing, after the first harvests I'm really looking forward for what it is to come since naturally with this system the soil is gonna to give more and more

This is definitely the best composting video and organic growing guide I have seen out there too! Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Will start doing this to prepare for winter!

I learned a lot from this video even though our climate is very different. Thanks for the effort. Also very well and eloquently presented, no filler words either. AND - the warning about broadleaf herbicides. Gardeners are almost certain to import them into their soil sooner or later (certainly in the U.S., and it looks like they are also used a lot in the U.K.) If one gets manure, compost, straw, hay from outside sources it is only a question of time. It only hits people that try to grow following natural principles. They have no chemical fix for the fertility demands so organic growers have always been on the lookout for manure and the like, regional (free) resources. Some do not have space or time to make as much compost as they need, or they want to avoid costs. Charles Dowding in England produces for the farmer's market, his property in urban area is not _that_ big. So he would like to get manure and he bought compost in the past - but it got so bad that he did not use ANY outside material before testing it with seedlings. He has had the habit to store compost or manure for some time after he got them, but that does not help with aminopyralides. So many gardeners, homesteaders, market farmers, organic farms have been burned, and that seems to be an international problem for smaller growers. I am binge watching gardening videos, and know of several Canadian Permaculture Legacy, Growfully Jenna (I think she is in Texas), another person in a Southern state (forgot the name), Charles Dowding UK, and a smaller channel in Germany ..... Aminopyralides are the new & international herbicide from hell.

I tell people in a question " Do you like and need to eat ?". Then I say, " So do your plants". When asked how do I feed them ? I tell them imagine you are a tree or plant in the forest. It's fed by organics and rain and sunlight.

I’m in a suburban neighborhood but I have a compost box for my plants and I’ll often add my dogs fur to my box or around and on my plants. I have Alaskan malamutes and when their fur breaks down the oil gets nitrogen from it but in the meantime the odor from the fur will help keep little critters away 😉

Outstanding presentation and content to bring soil to full life.

Thank you so much, Tom. I have learned more from just a few of your videos than from hundreds of other videos. I've signed up for your class and am looking forward to learning more from you. Right now, I'm anxious to get an old freezer for a worm bin. Do you have to remove the bottom of it? Can you tell us what that entails? Is it something that a handy man could do or does it require any special tools? Thanks a lot!

Thank you for the “rich” compost information, I’ll start your method for the spring planting preparation. I’m still a learner & so glad your video came across & caught my attention !

Excellent video!! Appreciated and enjoyed this teacher’s style!! 🌻🌻🌻

Great video. I really like the part about seeding the pile of shredded leaves with redworms! I'm leaning towards 'No Dig'. There is a school of thought that double digging upsets the soil food web and a fair amount of time is required to restore. Nature doesn't till. Many years ago in the fall I placed a 12' round of snow fence filled with leaves in my 'hard parking lot' garden soil. In the spring tilling was tough going until I got to the spot where the leaves had been all winter. Then the tiller sank effortlessly to it's maximum depth. Nature did the tilling!!! So I'm convinced that deep mulch can be the answer to natural soil tilth and fertility.🙂

Thank you for sharing this video Tom. I found this very educational and helpful. Best wishes Jason from Melbourne Australia.

Just starting to make compost and this video is the best that I have found. Simply wonderful 🙂

This is fantastic and so inspiring! Your garden looks lush!

Addicted to the content. Thank you for all the education you provide

Learned alot from your detailed video. Thank you for the honest and generous sharing.

Great video!. Thanks Sir for sharing these valuable information about making healthy soi and how to grow healthy food. Very helpful for me as a beginner organic farmer. Kudos!

Realistic and Doable information. Thank you for those precious info

What an informative video and you articulate it so well. Thank you!

Thanks for your in depth tutorial. I've subscribed, clicked notification and looking forward to watching all your segments on gardening. I have a few neighbours that I will be recommending this segment to be watched. Happy gardening.😊

Absolutely fantastic. Beautiful gardens. 🙏

This was a great educational video! Thank you for sharing!

when you brought out the leaf mold pile, i started salivating! i can't believe some people through this out!

This is amazing. I've seen videos of our bodies with all these. Thank you for all the information needed to grow a great garden. Sharing. ❤

Thanks for all the well-proven tips. Applying your thorough explanations really encourages each part of my garden to robust growth. Peace and health from the soil.

Am amazed at how easy it is to make compost. Am going to try this method definitely. Thank you soo much.

Thank you for this video, very helpful, interesting and practical. I especially enjoyed the emphasis on reducing labor. I’ll be changing my whole approach to getting my new property into shape for growing good good!

I love learning about compost.

This is a fantastic explanation of how it all works.

Very nice, intelligent, well thought-out presentation. Thank you.

I love your jungle! I'm also in Colorado at 8500 feet. For the last three years I've been growing soil on our new property. This year I'm ready to plant and I hope to have as luscious garden as yours.

You guys are amazing!!!!! Learning alot here want to start a community organic garden! Thank you!!!

Creating living soil is SOOO IMPORTANT. ❤️👍✅

I love this info. Have to scale it down quite a bit because of space and lack of sunny spots in my yard. But every little bit counts!

Love, love to have seen your garden. I wished I could do the same in my yard!

I'm so grateful to you

This is Excellent in every way! What an amazing job! I salute you sir, garden pro, presentation pro, biosphere ninja! So excited to learn more from this channel, thank you so much for your out standing work, I love it! Bravo!

Wow fantastic information in your video post! Thanks. I’m in Middle TN zone 7a. My daughter is in Boulder & has a garden plot in a huge garden co-op. I go in Spring to assist with planting & teaching her my 62 years of garden management skills. I truly need to learn more about the chemical biological processes within soil and how plants can optimize my efforts. Blessings, Allison 🎄

That absolutely correct, you put compose to your plants in three days look 👀 like they saying Thank You 🙏!! However, not everyone can have so much leaves to make the quantity of compose you have! I have 13 beds, my compose pail doesn’t produce twice a year neither. But I pick a lot of food from my garden. Another important thing to consider is zones! If you leave in Fl, you put your winter crop pretty much late October, but if you are in NJ, you do it pretty much in spring! Beans in Fl are done around March. Good luck 🍀 everyone with your garden, and don’t ever give up, it’s really the best fountain of health!!

My mulch tower has more veggies groing in it than my garden, at the moment 🤦🏼‍♀️ Potatoes love it! Also just moved a huge compst pile and underneath was rich beautiful soil and lots of worms!! Started a mounded garden with the debris i moved 🤷🏼‍♀️ hopefully im doing something right

Wow, this is so great! What a wonderful teacher you are! I’ve been gardening for a long time, and even the stuff that I already knew, I thought it was very interesting to hear you talk about it, and I did learn new things and ideas. I’ve never wormed composted, but I’m going to keep my eyes open for an old chest freezer. What a great idea to use worms to break down your winter compost piles! I started composting a couple years ago, but I use chicken wire circles and then just take the chicken wire off when I’m ready to stir the pile. I use my tiny little Troy built Tiller and I get in there after it with the tiller. Makes it such fluffy wonderful compost but now I wonder if I’m doing harm to it by stirring the pile that hard. Last fall I was reading up on the stages of composting and learned there’s a hot stage and a cool stage and times when you want the compost more moist and times when you want it less moist. I think I was doing harm to my compost organisms by maybe having a little too wet and not stirring the pile enough. Learning there’s a lot of science behind it. This yr I’m planning on putting in some raised beds. This will be a great source for inspiring me and making sure I’ve started off correctly. Thanks for sharing in this excellent video.

great content, love the organized well informed delivery- thank you

Extremely helpful video. Thank you.

Wow, what a wealth of information! Thank you!😊

Thank you..this is very helpful for us who are not good at growing food.. My soil is vertically completely dead.. so l will be doing these to help it

Thank you for taking the time to prepare and film this. I will use it for my small garden. 😊Dielika from DR

Thank you for making this video I think I picked up on a few tips or more that can benefit my home garden very much I didn't realize it was that much of a big deal and could make that much of a difference in my food crops. I hope to use your ideas so I can produce more food for home and maybe that'll help me be able to preserve more food. Thank you

wow I'm a plant lover, this is a very useful and helpful to me , thank you for sharing us a very informative method😍

Simply Superb practical approach Thank you very much sir

I've wanted to do vermicomposting. Great solutions to the hot/cold issues. Soil microbiome well explained & shown. I'm your new subscriber.

Amazing episode. Thank you.

Thank you Colin ❤

Hello Durango from Farmington!! Love your information. So glad I found your channel on RU-vid. I think your ideas might work better than many others , especially since we have very close growing zones. Thank You for sharing your knowledge ❤

Hello! I just found your channel today! Fantastic presentation. Thank you so much! I really enjoyed it!

Just subscribed. Such and informative and straight to the point video 👌👍

Great video. A lot of useful info. Thank you!

Thank you for short timing on videos. Appreciate it!

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!💯

Brilliant video!

Thanks very much i grow my own fòod but this way help me more i all so do my own composting as well thank again watching from Jamaica

great post! love all the compost tips.

Thank you very much for your effort. Excellent explanation. Greetings from EU Slovenia💚

Thank you for your knowledge sir I found your video very informative

Great video glad found your RU-vid station!!!!

Thanks for great video

thank you so much for this free info

Wow, amazing information. Thank you