"There are times to till. Particularly if you're hungry."

I like the tarping. I’m 67 and I just can’t do the forking anymore. And I’m going to do that because a lawn is the most unusual thing there is. And I’m sick & tired of cutting grass and running out of garden space. And I have hard, very hard, clay/chirt.

I started my garden on top of the lawn. I put down cardboard, twigs, branches, and old compost. Filled up my raised beds with all manner of organic matter, even manure, Bokashi, biochar, and some bought compost. It took three days to do all of my beds like this. I, alone, only using my hands and a shovel. I also grow in growbags that I put on top of branches to avoid it standing in water. The money I put into my garden has largely been seeds, some compost, and some of the beds. Everything was bought used or gifted to me from neighbours. Gardeners are kind folks. I never used to have a gardening space of my own. Now, I can happily plan for the seasons ahead.

Great video, as always. However, Scot says the broad fork wouldn't be good for the zombie apocalypse. The zombies would get stuck, and after a couple, it wouldn't be able to stab any more. The rest would just bounce off.

For those that think or say “its too expensive to start gardening” … stop paying and watching tv and film… there you go Now you have an instant monthly budget of anywhere from $19.99 to $100 and above .. you can use on your garden We stopped paying and watching tv and film in 2014 and weve used $69.99 monthly to invest in us. Now our entire backyard is a garden and even in winter we have plenty of things growing Tv and film are the biggest and largest ways to destroy a society or a family. Gardening is the opposite They shud call it HARDENING . Because it hardens your soul from fear much like Him.. it hardens your self reliance and it helps you watch content like this… Instead of the satanic tv. ✌🏻🙏🏻👍🏻🇺🇸 Excellent point 08:15 perhaps this is a path to sanctification Another bonus why i love this channel you ..with purpose “ on accident” educate more Godly wisdom than many who try to teach “religion” 🤔 Velvet beans also have great hormonal benefits for us

My neighbor has chickens and I dumped wheelbarrows full of leaves under My fig trees those chickens have leaves everywhere butt under my trees. 😆 🤣

I totally did this without knowing it would work. I planted several winter squash seeds in a garden I had only baby perennials in. It ran around and through the plants, keeping most of the weeds away while allowing the perennials to establish. 😊

Combine alllll the methods in one garden lol. Fork it, tarp it, till it…. I just finished mulching mine, then the neighbor’s chickens came over to make sure it was all spread out lol. I haven’t planted anything yet. Have a nice evening ✌🏻

Thanks for pointing out the hazards of microplastics!

Thanks to Dave’s great no-nonsense gardening methods we now do Lasagna Gardening and we use all the empty paper grain bags from our livestock feeds. Then we add: •organic kitchen scraps •organic mulch hay from our friends’ organic unsprayed hay farm •egg shells •shavings with chicken poop from our chicken coops •organic composted cow manure •wood chips & sawdust from my husband’s portable sawmill •leaves in the Fall •grass clippings after mowing •seaweed from the beach •rotting fruit on the ground in the Fall from our organic apple, pear, peach and crabapple trees We layer until the raised garden beds are full, we top off the beds with the mulch hay then let our arctic Maine winter do its magic. Come Spring the organic matter has decomposed considerably so we add a mixture of loam, peat moss, composted cow manure and stone dust…then when it’s warm enough, it’s time to plant the seedlings in our greenhouse. Lasagna Gardening is by far the best method, but it does take planning. Every Fall we top off our raised beds with leaves and mulch hay, during the winter we brush off the snow, lift the hay and dump kitchen scraps in the beds then put the hay back down. Our garden beds are filled with huge earthworms, a sign of very healthy soils. Thank you Dave, you are the best!!😁 And we love your channel, especially your quirky sense of humor!!😆

Cover crops have been my favorite and I hope I can remove them completely as I plant alley crops of black locust next spring to experiment with an American version of Inga Alley Cropping. Throwing a diverse mix of cover crops onto already standing lawn in early spring has gotten me some incredible growth with zero labor. Some areas did poorly but for a first year with zero water save for infrequent rains I am very happy. I am hoping that the alley crop system will work for me as I don’t think many really understand the difficulty of having to source large quantities of mulch from off site or the cost in constantly having to buy cover crops. If this alley crop system works for me I will never have to buy mulch or cover crops again and a simple crop rotation between alleys of okra, cucurbits, and nightshades with some herbs and flowers transplanted in here or there may be a system that cuts out the need for all those external inputs.

May your thumb always be green and our thumbs always be up. 👍

I have a 30' x 40' garden spot that became infested with nematodes so I put down weed fabric and went to all containers. Eventually, all the containers became infested. I heard from several sources that mustard plants incorporated into the soil will kill nematodes. Many of my containers were getting old, so I set aside my containers and pulled the fabric, I bought a small tiller, and tilled a few times as deep as it would go. The ground was dry and dead, void of any organic matter. Sunlight also kills nematodes, so I tilled every day for a few days then planted the whole thing in broadleaf mustard. Soon, I had a full bed of 8" mustard, 8" weeds, and 8" grass. So, I tilled again for a few days, adding about 70 5gal buckets of the infested potting mix. I gave up on a fall crop and decided to replant the mustard. When I till it in next time, it'll be late fall and the leaves should be available. I plan to till in tons of leaves, let them decay a little bit and then plant mustard again. When the sun starts beating down again next spring, I plan to till and sun for a week or two and then try my spring garden. The project would have been impossible without the tiller. I'm 75 and it is hot as blazes here in 9a. About a hundred of my containers were bug free, so I'll still have a fall/winter crop.

Those Meadow Creature broadforks have really gone up in price since the last time I looked at them. Like 60% or 80% MORE, it seems as I recall 😳😳😳

Hee, hee! You inspired me to assemble the broad fork that has been waiting patiently to be used. I am 70, not very strong, with back problems, and I don’t want to have to get down and weed. The area I want to clear has vines and tree sprouts, but the worst offender is vinca, which has come back like something from Pet Sematary! 😱 I have used cardboard for several years and it works great but my “Neighborhood Association” forbids that in the front yard. So I guess I will need to mulch it before they see it. Thanks for sharing your knowledge ❤💐♻️👩‍🌾

David the part about tilling seems like it fits my situation perfectly, a friend of mine offered a 0.6 acre site for fruit trees , pumpkins,potatoes and garlic , transforming into fruit rows with polycultures, but the area is filled with goldenrod , 4 inches between the rods, i mowed the site during this years bloom with a scythe (cant risk the tractor to find any treasures like fenceposts or wire, i was still thinking about no till aproach , just mow it down and seed out clover and buckwheat inbetween, but a neighbour offered me to till it with his old tractor , with seems so solve my problems with goldenrod for the next years, turn it over one time and then start to work , its a reset but also a practical starting point

Lasagna garden sounds fantastic. Zac of An American Homestead just raves about his lasagna garden 🏡

I love the way you work God in to everything you do.

We had an old area rug that worked for us over zoysia grass. Removed the rug after a few months, layered some wood chips and compost directly over the dead zoysia. Works good, but that zoysia grass is a constant battle.

I am putting down black plastic sheets in my food forest. I spread wood chips and leaves throughout it 1st. I’m going to pull up the sheets one at a time and plant out the spaces with stuff that will quickly grow and cover the ground. I mulched about two foot and put down cardboard in a lot of it. I got sick of pulling tape off the box’s lol. I am fighting wild blackberries and Bermuda grass. It’s starting to pop back up though the mulch that’s uncovered. My goal is to have half of it covered by January. I started covering it 3-4 months ago and it’s about 1/4 of the way covered right now. Im going to start adding worms to it too.

I am throwing in food forrest islands leaving enough grass to mow paths and blow the cut grass on the islands for mulch! Grass is just fertilizer mulch to me now! 😊❤ Thanks to DTG 2023!

Hi David, Wow, talk about the timing of this video. I am about to turn my backyard completely into a garden and I wasn’t too sure about the grass.

I had a huge problem with bindies and they were under the clothes line so I used solarisation. I used black builders plastic. First I mowed on the lowest number. Then I pinned down the plastic and left it for 2 weeks in the subtropical summer. Everything was killed but what was interesting was the fungal growth on the rotten grass. I seeded new grass and within 4 weeks I had soft grass under the clothes line. It was a rental so I had to grass it.

Hi David the good I love your channel, it’s very informative, and funny too, especially this episode, keep doing what you are doing, never stop, I wish you and your family well.

I like to do my tilling in the fall after all the crops are done. I primarily use the cardboard and woodchip method and at the end of the season they when they have broken down nicely, I will till them into the soil to fully break down and get more organic matter deeper into the red clay. After tilling, I will start over with a fresh layer of cardboard and woodchips. This gets the organic matter down into the soil more quickly than traditional no till and you still get the benefits of the mulch cover keeping the weeds suppressed.

We had chickens turn our first section of lawn into garden when we moved. They did amazingly well weeding and fertilizing while we kicked back and ate their eggs. The crops we planted that following spring were so happy there. I can't recommend method #6 highly enough.

Velvet beans and pigeon peas he mentioned as vigorous cover crops.

I've been tarping for vegetable production with great success, I'm going to try tilling small meadow areas up so I can have grass and wildflowers together in patches around the yard.

David you are correct about some cities not allowing chicken tractors- people need to wake up to natural ways that do work 🐣🐥🐔 🙏👍🌻

Excellent presentation, thank you.

I don't use cardboard a lot of the stuff I get is full of plastic stickers and tape. As I work at a chip stand in the summer I collect the paper bags that the potato's come in. I just cut the top of that is sew because I don't know if the material is synthetic fiber. I also till with chickens after I run the rabbits over it first. Great video.

We have billboard tarps down now and have since spring. I tried to put raised beds on top of them but rethinking that as the soil got pretty waterlogged when it rained. Pots on legs would do nice though. I think I’ll try some cover crop and/or lasagna gardening next.

i do commercial rototilling , the easiest way to turn a lawn into a garden is this , spray the area with vinegar , several times , this will weaken the grass or even kill it outright , then till it in , let it dry out , spray with more vinegar , and retill ... this should knock out all the grass and weeds , while preserving the top soil . this does NOT damage the bacteria , in fact the air will increase the bacteria you want . it does damage beneficial fungus , but if there is a healthy fungal population , it is back and thriving in 2 to 3 weeks . the huge benefit of tilling is it keeps things from going anaerobic in heavy soils and allows lighter fluffier material to get mixed in it also has the effect of knocking down weeds

I use a shovel and elbow grease to scrape out the grass/weeds from the bottom. I then scrape the next layer until i removed as much roots as possible. I push the soil around to even out the field to my liking. I then add a thick layer of organic material on top of the soil and even it out to my liking. (compost, garden soil, raised bed mix, potting soil mix) When I plant stuff I end up mixing the organic material in with the soil. I top it off with fine layer of pine bark mulch. If i get any random shoots of Bermuda grass I can just pull it out. Covering lawns with tarps? Ain't nobody got time for that! A shovel and some righteous anger will get it done.

I love my Meadow Creature broadfork! I'm in my mid 60s so i go pretty slow, fork the entire area and then sit down and pull the grass/roots out. The grass and roots are tossed under the trees as mulch and the soil is loose and fluffy for top dressing and rainfall infiltration. The soil is a sandy loam so, next year, I'm going to experiment and try growing using the dry farming way with no irrigation.

I just "accidentally" planted some pumpkins in my compost this year. I said to them don't grow. 😅

Re: blue and grey/silver "heavy duty" tarps. They absolutely are not as tough as older plastic-based tarps are. In the last 2 years, I've gone through at least 3 "heavy duty" tarps from Lowes/HD and they are not getting beaten up by the sun., just folded and unfolded A LOT. I noticed the tarps started developing cracks and splits in material extremely quickly despite being thicker 8-10mm tarps. I do have a new tarp from Kodiak Canvas for a tent and it's 100% tougher than the ones from the big box stores and costs half as much for a 10x14!

I almost always find snakes under my tarps when they are removed in the spring. God bless y'all and keep growing.

I’m using cardboard, leaves, homemade compost, and arborist chips to expand my garden. I hope to plant fruit trees and shrubs along with other perennials next Spring. Thanks for your books!

My favorite summer cover is Tatume squash. Technically a pumpkin I guess since they are in the pepo family but they really like to stay on the ground versus climbing up stuff. They have a nice thin stem that resists squash borers and I even walk on them if I need to cause they will deal with some light foot traffic. Plus they are just prolific! They put out roots at every node, you can eat the young squash like zucchini or the ripe ones like pumpkins but I think they taste more like potatoes than pumpkins.

You missed a very important # 7th method. Slip $20 bucks to a nearby pre-teen and in no time they'll dig and destroy a section of your lawn.... In your case the wife and kids seem to participate.Perhaps not readily but at least the first season or two till they figure out you need to pay them more....

We just went at the lawn with a powerful tiller. It took many passes and we went deeper and deeper into the lawn. We hit lots of rocks and picked those out and used them smartly elsewhere. We turned the soil until it was a fine powder. We let the newly tilled area sit for a couple of days before we planted anything. Our garden is about 60 X 20

I don't know about composting the internet, toxicity probably to high to be safe.

The organic way is the best.

Words cannot express how much I appreciate you. This is incredible content - thank you for all of the details

Great video! I like the idea of velvet beans as a suppressive cover crop but they are expensive. Going with lasagna layering.

The five ways: forking with a broad fork, putting down a tarp, using a tiller, lasagna gardening, and cover crop. The bonus point is using chicken and pigs as tillers.

hahahaha preach!

Dude you have awesome tips; clearly you love what you do.

roototillers!!! love them working pigs!!

Lablab is my hero in Texas. Fixed my soil right up.

The fountain is awesome!!!

Thank you! It's great to have a couple of new ideas for this perennial question.

David this is very informative and as a plus you reminded me to suppress my tongue…yes now I can always use knowledgeable advice . THANKS

Thanks! (Also commenting to improve the algorithm.)

Go with the chickens for sure with added powerfist 30 dollar all metal fork . The chickens make forking easier and the forking mines food for the chickens ... They get right in there

As always, great stuff brother Thank you

Never heard it called lasagna but yeah man it's super underrated. 1 or 2 layers of cardboard (depending on thickness), some compost, gardening soil, manure, kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, and then a thick layer of Mulch usually my lasagna is a little over a foot thick at its thickest.

Thank you again David for sharing! My first video I saw of you was the one to plant fruit trees instead of throwing them away. That was around 5 years ago. I have plenty in pots that need to get in the ground.😊

Perfect timing on the video. I was looking at removing a section of my lawn to add more garden space. Thanks!

Will woven landscape fabric work on bermudagrass? Maybe add cardboard sheet underneath the woven fabric for added success?

Good video. I shared on social media.

I dug up the soil, and made a huge mound and composted it for a year. Worked well, now I have Oxalic acid producing weeds, which helps make bioavailable nutrients for the soil. Not perfect yet, but its nice. Use weeds, to reclaim your soil, that is literally their job, just make sure you know which ones to terminate, or you might get something like that evil cogon grass. Best part of this method, is you get a lot of rocks.

I definitely used lasagna gardening for my two raised beds. It works great and it’s all natural!

For the tarp method, I can verify that a really cheap tarp does not work. I have used a cheap one for ground cover in a different hobby and the grass underneath just kept growing. Enough light was getting through to keep the grass happily growing. Where I used a higher quality one, it killed off everything underneath.

We bought the Meadow Creature broadfork before we realized we have ridiculous TN clay soil 😭. But we are using the tarp method now - same as you demonstrated - and it’s a dream so far! We bought another roll and are working our way down the property to open up an orchard area. We hope to use our broadfork someday once we’ve conditioned this neglected patch of earth. I have no idea what this green stuff is that we have to mow every 2 days, but it certainly isn’t like any grass we were used to in CA. Our aim is to leave as little of it as possible and, whatever isn’t food or fruit trees, plant meadow grass and flowers.

I kinda forgot I built a broad fork...

I'm a big fan of using pumpkins and squash for weed suppression. It works better than I expected and provides a LOT of vines and then fruits for our chickens. Now that spot is ready for a winter cover crop and then whatever we want next spring. We use a lot of cardboard, too. We found a nearby furniture store that was happy to let us have very large boxes from chairs and fridges and whatnot. That makes it easier than fiddling around with a bazillion small pieces.

Awesome dude. Thanks ✨

thoroughly enjoyed this video man!!

Thank you 🙏🙏🙏

I love the lasagne method As it feed the soil at the same time

If one wants to eat next winter, one should use whatever method works (like Steve Solomon says...) We have tilled some areas of our heavy clay soil. After that, we cover crop. Or heavily mulch. Or tarp. Depends. Three green thumbs up, sir! PS: I'm guessing bermuda grass is what we call "Scutch grass." We've had it come up through 2 layers of banana box cardboard. [Gollum voice]: we hates it, we do!

Thank you for this video.

Another great video

Preach it, David!!!!

Thank you. Very very helpful.

David=good

Best tips!!!

There is a more attractive tarping alternative to plastic landscaping fabric, which is biodegradable paper weed barrier. Like the plastic stuff it comes in rolls in various widths and lengths. Cut-n-paste 'biodegradable paper weed barrier' into you browser to get many leads. Like David suggests, mow the grass, pin down the tarp, wet it out, and cover with mulch. You can punch holes and plant right through it even easier than with plastic landscaping cloth, and while it's a single-use tarp it doesn't introduce microplastics into your soil.

Thank you soooo much for the laugh. I really needed that today.

amazing

Thank you.

I use cardboard. I work at grocery store plenty on hand

I have been gardening for decades and I always tille and yes I do have to weed but that's okay 👌 do what ever works to grow food....😊

Bermuda grass here! I was able to get a FREE load of wood chip before so I hope that I still can!!! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, knowledge and even experiments!!! 🤩 God bless you and yours!!!

I've used all the methods identified. Pigs are the ultimate weed destroyer but I don't have any currently. If the top 5 I have to say none of them work on simlax🫤. It can be covered for years and still pop it's ugly head out from a root that's up to 3' in the ground... ask me how I know how deep...lol.

And with Blackberry issues, goats work very well

David the Good says a flame thrower is an essential tool for the garden. Queue all the DIY flame thrower videos KZfaq has to offer!

Genial

13:45 I take anything we would normally burn and throw it on my lasagna bed. Including mail and old paperwork I normally shred if i dont burn it. .. pine needles. Cardboard. By next spring my lasagna bed should be good to go for my blackberries. I admit i tend to do this in my rsised beds too. I throw damn near antymthing in there as long as its not plastic/fabric. It keeps the weeds down and i use less garden soil. Its worked so far.

Thank you for the common sense offers on removing lawn/weeds. Glad I watched this. There's definitely a season to till or not to till. And, Choice of 🎶🎵 a great match to the sentiment of journeying to perfection. 👍🏾

You forgot to add flannel farms youtube channel boss in the description

Thanks!

Pigeon peas are so good Hard to plant loads here As it all depends on our temperamental summer

Did a combination of these today. Slashed down a very weedy, long grass area, then covered it with cardbaord. Wet down the cardboard and then covered the whole lot with black weed mat. Quite weird seeing the steam coming off the weed mat in the sun. Made holes through the mat and cardboard to plant out chillis and tomatos. Hopefully the lack of light and heat generated will kill the weeds underneath.

Bello

Buena

I’ve been watching KZfaq in 1.25x so when I heard the fountain in normal speed it was jarring 😂

We have nut sedge all over, then bermuda grass. Nut sedge punches through plastic tarp. Any tilling just propagates nut sedge. So, it is elevated container gardening for us. 'We will slowly add to our elevated container garden each year. We find square 2x2 boxes work best, the corners add a lot more options for more than one plant per container. Cedar is best, but we can use treated wood with thick plastic liners. We do use cardboard and pine needles renewed every year around fruit and nut trees. Be aware! One item common now is something, I forget the name, that agri buis uses to spray on graze lands kills weeds but lets grass grow that does not break down for 10 years. If you use manure, be sure they do no use this stuff or it will kill everything but grass because it does not break down for 10 years.