What's Holding Your Soil Back 

The only man who calls me a nerd and I don't get upset. I didn't think it was possible.

❤ thank you

You're right about the grasses (especially the quack/couch, bane of my existence); the roots are always well-sheathed and teeming with earthworms so they're definitely pumping out something that soil residents enjoy. I must give your tea idea a try, thanks for the tip!

I absolutely find this to be true. I talk all the time about how impressed I am with the rhizosheaths on grasses and weeds like purple nettle. Those jerks.

This makes so much sense!

Love this comment, thanks!

good to hear this method is working, i'm doing this same thing, i just started this year :) i also threw a bunch of different leftover veggie seeds on a small area just to see what would happen and the difference it made in just a few months is crazy. they haven't produced much but now the water gets into the soil wich was the main problem and now there's a bunch of different kind of weeds instead of the previous 2 (sounds weird to be happy about this but oh well) and the veggies attracted some bugs as well. maybe not the best method but better than nothing😅

I haven't found those but they tend to have huge chunks of wood and sifting it is annoyingly time consuming.

Amazing, thank YOU!

they also tend to strip the top soil on purpose to plant grass in new places Even though my house is 20 years old im still dealing with the fact they stripped it to the subsoil

@@davidakerlund6296 Oof. That sounds rough. Do you grow in raised beds?

It's also possible the contractor buried construction waste in the yard, raked over 1-2 inches of top soil and planted a lawn. I started no-till raised beds in my backyard and after a couple years, plant roots and soil critters started pushing old bricks to the surface! I'm using them for edging. I think this shows the real power of no-till.... I can't imagine the work of actually digging all the bricks out on day one of the garden. But by just adding compost to beds, adding wood chips and leaves on the walkways and continuous growing, the bricks were loosened and pushed up naturally.

@@bethhubbs9937 no to raised beds but i rotionally grazed chickens and guinea pigs for about 10 years, did chop and drop then added by hand 60 yards of compost as well as bringing all food waste from work home for 10 years. Ive been broadforking for 2 years now and just this summer managed to successfully grow carrots for the first time ever

Amazing, thank YOU!

Heading to Argentina soon, probobly need ur contact info...

A few times during the summer pull up the crabgrass carefully without malice and look at the roots. It has the most beautiful exodate-driven rhyzosheaths anyone could hope for. I try to knock that biology off the roots and use it to inoculate other areas of the garden (direct soil transfer or compost tea). Compost the rest in place.

Interesting. I've always just pulled it and fed it to the chickens.@@jvin248

Could someone please post some shots of rhyzosheaths (different plants)? It'll help us noobs know what to look for.

... just ask you local construction site for a bent piece. Simpler still...

A bird in the hand, is worth two bent pieces of rebar at a local construction site. Except when its a finch, As a flock of finches can be very charming.

Oof. No easy solution there. Cover crops will obviously help. Stopping their property from draining onto yours obviously. Building buffers. Raising the beds as much as possible, too, in that flood zone. Sometimes it simply takes time.

​@notillgrowers Thanks Farmer Jesse!

This is what I would do in your situation. (I'm very small suburban gardener. Tiny. Think patio size. Tiny patio size. Did I mention tiny? Good. Now that we understand it.) drain the liquid. move it to some holding system that can act like a sponge. Why? Because I don't want that stuff going further into the ecosystem. Then, some form of biological agent to suck that herbicide in (maybe there's some nasty plant that laughs at the specific herbicide or some organism that likes eating these molecules? ) Grasses might be a good idea because I bet your neighbor has a lawn. Those herbicides are designed to kill only non-grasses. There's some beautiful ornamental native grasses that might be resilient. And then, time for the decay to happen if possible. throw a quick growing seed plant and look at the growth. Alternate and move the dump zone so that it doesn't concentrate too much in one area. (As a thought, use that captured herbicide to spray around the house foundation. You don't really want plants up next to your house foundation walls.) another solution, if you're on good terms with this neighbor is.. describe the problem and suggest easy ways that would be acceptable to your neighbor to help with the herbicide issue. It could be as simple as installing a flower border or gravel border or just a less toxic herbicide or you maintaining that part of the property for your neighbor. (I do something similar. Every fall, I offer "free leaf raking" and it's a win/win. I get some exercise, lovely fallen leaves and the good will of my neighbors.) Good luck.

You can't get blood from a turnip. Get a full soil test and check all your nutrient levels. Yes, the herbicides could be an issue but if your garden has essentially been a floodplain for decades, the soil may have experienced significant nutrient leaching. A lot of nutrients are water soluble and simply float away. That said, look up the green bean herbicide test and try that with your soil. I'd try it with and without fertilizer to see what happens if seeds and seedlings are given sufficient nutrients. If your seedlings have sufficient nutrients and look like they are experiencing herbicide stunting, you may just have to move your garden. :(

Also, (sorry) could we use our own hay on our garden instead of straw? I mean, it is free.

I am not sure I understand the burned bones thing, but both are beneficial. Ideally, you are adding carbonaceous mulches, mature compost (six months to one year old give or take), and also adding living plants and fresh grass mulches. Biodiversity is as important to crop selection as inputs.

Was it not scientifically proven charcoal is super porous and so a ton of microorganisms take each tiny charcoal piece as their home, and so charcoal can help microorganisms? At least I remember a no-till enthusiast I knew telling me about it, she would talk about soil science almost every day haha

A lot of folks grow strawberries in landscape fabric for that reason (which I'm assuming is what the weed blanket is?). Heavy mulches are the only alternative. It's just a slow, weed-susceptible crop. Do a year of getting the weed bank in check and then plant them in the fall. That might help.

I will try that. Thanks.@@notillgrowers

Because strawberries can be planted in the fall, they are sometimes an ideal candidate for soil solarization. There's a lot of information on it out there. Cover the soil with a black plastic during the hottest part of the summer and keep a drip irrigation system running enough for the soil to remain moist several inches deep for a couple of months. Then plant

They are called Straw-berries for a reason. Mulch them deeply in straw! Keeps the weeds down and helps them survive cold winters. Or grow them in landscape fabric or black plastic mulch where each mother or daughter plant is in a hole in the fabric/plastic. Strawberries natural growth habits do not lend well to perfect spacing and soil cultivation methods for easy and regular weed control in bare soil like other crops do, using things like sturup hoes or wire weeders. Mulch the heck out of them (straw or plastics) or don't bother growing them.

We had a big vole problem for a while. We cured it with a cat. 😁

​@mslorischoolsocialworker same here. 2 outside cats. Make sure you feed them just regular cat food so they will hunt. One had a big field mouse "prize" for me yesterday morning, in fact.

Have you heard of Home Grown National Park? I don’t know much about it, but I love seeing lawns turned into gardens.

@jasonfougere3274 - Take a break from foxnews, you’re at peak paranoia.

@lilolgreyhairdlady4093 I haven't, but I will check it out. Thanks!

@canadiangemstones7636 LOL, thanks, friend. I'm a farmer, and I see the prices going up. We are in unprecedented times with climate change, and I believe we have been depleting resources while our global population is outgrowing those resources. I am concerned, and rightfully so.

They love slugs.

That note on Rhizobia is in defense of beneficial microbes that operate in more anaerobic conditions and isn't about compaction. Apologies if it came off that way. But the nodules absolutely help the rhizobia regulate oxygen in a variety of ways including an oxygen diffusion barrier and oxygen-binding leghemoglobin, etc.. You're right about the high energy needs, but some nuance in these topics gets lost because, well, it's a youtube video 🤷

​@@notillgrowersWhat I meant to point out was that they function in and prefer an aerobic environment, so in a practical sense, they're only anaerobic on a technicality. Lumping them in with anaerobes is misleading if you're talking to people who don't understand the nuance. I love the way you acknowledge nuance in general, but this one felt like lying by telling the truth, though you obviously weren't trying to deceive.

Thank you! 🙌

Amazing, thank YOU!

Amazing, thank YOU!

Amazing, thank YOU!