My Dad was a teacher and had a PhD in biology. This is exactly how he would have explained it. And he would have borrowed Mom's biggest jar, too. Great job!
Year 8 BTE Gardner here and you hit it 100%. I have turned a piece of sand into a thriving BTE garden that now grows anything and everything. Nice job on the video. I will also add - I heard a broadcast Paul did and it had to do with minerals. The gist of it is you do not remove the rocks from your garden because they add trace minerals back into the soil through erosion. Therefor I always throw some pea gravel into my garden every once and a while to supply that aspect of gardening.
If you native soil is sandy or sandy loam, you can grow right in that. The only thing to do is plant your plants in the native soil, out maybe 1in of compost or whatever fertilizer on top, and then mulch 1-3 inches on top. Try it.
I have been watching videos about BTE gardening for a couple years. This is, by far, the best one I have come across. You did a beautiful job of explaining what to expect, and why! And the reasons for not tilling, and everything else. THANK YOU FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL VIDEO! God bless! SUBBED!
Loved your honesty, about mixing composts and tilling your soil before applying the wood chips, big mistake. I dug mine, tilled, covered for 8 weeks, skipped the news paper/ cardboard and covered with 4 inches of bark mulch. 3 months later no weeds, outside temp 4' , ground temp 36'... 2in down. Nitrogen levels low but no weeds and soil under mulch is soft and moist. Looking good for March 2024,😅
Oh I like the last part also, cleaning your wifes jar and putting it back like nothing happened, Then showing the video , and taking a video of your wife. Amazing ha ha!
Great way of explaining the whole method and the part about using other things really enlightened me as in my country we don't have chips like that I also like how u explained what each stuff does for your soil god bless
The Back to Eden video confused MANY gardeners. Paul Gautschi uses wood chips in his orchard, but NOT in his vegetable garden. He uses compost in the garden from his chicken run and purchased composted tub grinder chips.
Thank you for the common sense explanation and encouragement to keep going with it despite the mistakes that come along with the learning process. (I've made a lot). And don't worry, your secret about the oatmeal jar is safe with us.
Thank you for taking the time to share your insight and knowledge AND FAILURES with us 😊 having the visual representation sitting there really enhances your explanation. Well done, sir 👍 (AND, thank your wife for the jar, too😅)
Instant subscribe! Clear and tomthe point. After watching soo many videos you finally gave me the courage to put down those woodchips. Also: I love your family. Well done, Mr.
Thank you for the tips! We removed our chips early on due to issues with no germination and earwigs eating everything. Now that we have chickens I am excited to give this another shot. We have a good base layer going already from the 3+ inches of compost that we had just piled on top of our tilled bed. I can pull weeds out with ease and digging requires minimal effort or tools.
I use mostly chopped leaves, mostly cuz that's what I get on my property. The leaves work much faster, you're getting the same result - organic material breaking down into your soul. My winter compost includes a leaf pile that's 25' x 15'. I've piled a 2" layer over my garlic, strawberries, and annual veggie bed. I still use wood chips around my annual flowers in front. Looks nice, no weeds. Seeds won't break through chips.
Amazing info! Thank you, new subscriber. I might mention the dangers of using hay in the garden though... "Grazon" & other persistent herbicides are nasty and do so much damage, but you'd think it's a nitrogen or watering issue
I have enjoyed high tech planted aquariums and I would recommend people who garden to do the same. The environment control that's needed to be balanced and obtained is so fine. It teaches you how plants grow from substrates to animal waste breakdown, water flow, lighting frequency, even running co2 carbon dioxide injection. A totally contained ecosystem that balances off the exact thing talked about in this video. Without beneficial bacteria nothing is in harmony.
Kia ora from New Zealand and thanks for a very informative tutorial. I am just starting to use wood chips on my garden and your video has cleared up much for me. I am wondering though - can I put fresh cow manure on top of the wood chips or does it have to be aged? Thanks again - I have subscribed.
@@amywalsh4006 I watched the Back To Eden video several times about 2 weeks apart. What was explained here and so much more is available there. Most people seem to get the idea that woods chips can be a good thing. Then they see Paul G.'s results from years of practicing BTE, and they seem to think all is well. Repeating a view of the film let's you get past the awe and wonder and actually listen to details.
@@waynetadlock9719 Yes I have a copy of that documentary. I'll need to watch it again. Sometimes Paul talks a bit fast for me to understand so i'll put subtitles on this time to catch the information that i've missed.
I couldn't agree more...Now when I watch the videos I dont pay much attention to the cucumbers or the basil, I'm listening carefully to the conversations to pick up on little details, thoughts, theories, etc.
The nitrogen deficiency only happens in the 1-2mm (+- 1/16in.) where the wood touches the compost layer. When you plant in the compost, the roots will easily go below that and not be a problem. Also, it's the soil micro biology that makes the nutrients available for the plants, so that is the main goal. Build soil microbiology. Edit: Worm tea is a great way to add the bacteria to the soil to kickstart this process. If you aerate it, it will be even faster.
BTW if you don't use wood chips and more leaves, grass and so on, don't add a lot of fertilizer. Wood chips contain a lot of cell substances and microbes need nitrogen to decompose them. But leaves, grass and so on already contain a lot of nitrogen and if you add a lot of fertilizer you will end up with soil that's full of ammonia. Nothing will grow in that either :)
I have a question. If I have cardboard between the wood chips and soil, how will the wood chips deplete the nitrogen? Actually 2 questions, would it be better to use saw dust from lumber yard instead of wood chips? Seems to me like saw dust would break down faster. Plz help.
You could just pile it up, and you certainly could add other organic matter to it as well. Probably the most important thing is to turn it every 2 or three weeks to get oxygen into the middle of the pile.
Can I use coarse saw dust instead of wood chips? And also. I have black walnut sawdust and white/red oak sawdust. Can I use the black walnut? Some YT have said no but never go into detail and I can't find any info on why, other than while growing, BW roots expell juglone that is toxic to closely growing plants. But no evidence this is in kiln dried BW.
Juglone is pretty much gone by the time the wood is gone and it’s only primarily in the root system. So if you give it time to start breaking down and composting it shouldn’t be a issue at all especially if combined with other organic matter
New sub here. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've used similar logic to try and explain why what works does work- and why what doesn't, does not work. Thanks..
Thanks Wayne, glad you enjoyed it and for what its worth, I'm just getting started in discussing my thoughts and theories on the benefits of undisturbed biologically active organic soil!
No Wayne, I,ve never actually done strict vermicomposting but I do specifically do things to attract earthworms into my garden and Ive done a ton of research on the subject of vermicomposting to help navigate my attempts to draw them to my garden. I feel that they are an amazingly important asset to a strong living soil ecosystem.
Great video. back to Eden is great for transplant. but and big but how do you grow parsley or other herbs from seeds in wood chips. ( like 30 sq ft of parsley) impossible you have to dig . I have been doing garden of eden method for 10 yrs now. the conclusion I came to . when it comes to seeds. YOU HAVE TO DIG
I agree that in some situations using this method can be a bit challenging. I show how I do my seed planting in tip number two of this video m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oQwm3x5Fu5M.html
Yea, in the beginning I used mostly woodchips but now I really try to be more diverse as far as mulch goes. I use leaves, grass clippings, hay from my chicken run, etc. I try to get the bulk of my mulching done in the fall just before winter.
I wish I could. There is no one with wood chips for over two hours. I've tried going to get wood chips from landfill and they said they use them and don't give or sell them to others.
Merrie, you don’t have to use woodchips. You can utilize this method using leaves, grass clippings, straw etc. in fact, I’m now purposely trying to utilize more of the above listed mulches along with ashes from my wood stove, left over coffee grounds and pine needles to try to add a bit more diversity to my gardens structure. Happy gardening, and keep looking for those chips as well!
