Back to Eden garden - How do I amend my soil?

Рет қаралды 12,825

3 жыл бұрын

Are you doing a deep woodchip mulch like Back to Eden no till method, and then wonder...how can I amend my soil?
you may have watched my video on common ways people mess up back to Eden method. in that video I talk about soil ecological transition. woody plants want fungal dominated soil, and leafy plants want bacterial dominated soil. Trees want woodchips and tomatoes want compost and manure. So why do I use a wood chip mulch for my tomatoes? Don't I need to add compost and manure each year? How do I do that when I have a deep woodchip mulch and still keep the woodchips on top so they don't nitrogen deplete my soil - like all those people who messed up their back to Eden beds?
Well, there are 3 ways to amend compost and manure into a woodchip mulched annual bed, and I go through the pros and cons of each one, and tell you which method I use!
Fear not, you can still amend your soils in the no till methodology. Let's go!
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Пікірлер: 132

@kroegermarkus1170 3 жыл бұрын

I cover the woodchips with a thick mulch layer of nettles and comfrey but any fresh herbaceous material will do too. And then every time it rains a concentrate of living material (bacteria, algae etc) is washed through the chips into the soil. Btw. The chips break down much faster this way.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Beautiful

@brianwhite9555 3 жыл бұрын

I always wondered why my food plants looked better after a rain, than after a watering, but never looked in to it. Thanks for the explanation!

@Atimatimukti Жыл бұрын

The best fertilizer is a good thunderstorm. It delivers tons of nitrogen

@edensbounty6679 3 жыл бұрын

I have been using the Back to Eden method for 3 years. I have a source for free aged wood chip like black gold through my city. It's the best garden method if done properly, in my 57 years I have tried them all.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Wonderful! I really like the caveat there. If done properly. That's SO important.

@samanthamariah7625 3 жыл бұрын

Free aged wood chips sounds like a dream. I’m still waiting here for my Chip Drop and they definitely will not be aged. So glad you have access to such gold 💚

@lizt.5374 10 ай бұрын

Oh my lord, thank you for the info about rainfall! Always wondered why it makes the plants so much happier than irrigation.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 10 ай бұрын

Exactly! There's very little nitrogen entrained in hose water.

@austinjordan8873 3 жыл бұрын

Super informative. We love when you go in depth into the soil microbiology.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoy it!

@debbiehenri345 3 жыл бұрын

When I worked in London parks & gardens, we made and used this lovely material called pulverised bark: warm, light to use, a bit smelly for a few days, and nutritious. Just added it in a thick layer over the soil in the Autumn, it slowly broke down over the course of a year, and we repeated the process again next Autumn. There was never any need to scrape anything back and amend the soil. I only wish I could get hold of pulverised bark now - best stuff I ever used for a mulch. Now without a job and on a tight garden budget, I can't really afford to buy truckloads of mulch. Instead, I improvise and make use of as many free natural materials as I can, my favourite being dead fern and bracken leaves (bracken is infertile where I live, so does not spore). I'm lucky in that I have large numbers of very old ferns, many in a 3/4 acre strip of woodland. I harvest them in Autumn once they are dead, fold 'em in bunches, and lay them between plants. Last 2 years.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info. I've never even heard of pulverized bark. From the sounds of it I'd maybe be concerned with the energy needed to produce it, but I'm not sure it's more or less than the energy of a giant industrial chipper LOL

@oobik_design 3 жыл бұрын

Sometimes I can get something similar from arborists after they use a stump grinder. The stump grinder pulverizes the roots into an amazing amendment. Anecdotally, I've found root material to have a higher nutrient concentration but I'm not sure if this is scientifically valid or not.

@brianwhite9555 3 жыл бұрын

@@oobik_design , Maybe it's because the roots are much closer to the nutrient source, the soil, and haven't yet pumped the nutrients up the tree trunk, along the branches, and out to the leaves.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Brian, that's a very real possibility. Good line of thinking.

@nodigBKMiche 3 жыл бұрын

Are they Ostrich ferns? They are the Most delicious green veg! Check & see, you could be eating/freezing them in the spring💕😊👍🏼. I do believe most ferns are edible,,,, Ostrich are YUMMY💕. Local restaurants pay 7$ 🇨🇦 a lb here...🍀

@jackturner4917 3 жыл бұрын

I just harvested my garlic for the 3rd year running using woodchip mulch. The plants always do great. My big problem is keeping the woodchips from mixing into the soil while harvesting. They are densely planted and raking away the woodchips first just isn't feasible. Daniel Mays of Frith Farm uses leaf mulch. I think this is more practical for root crops but good leaf mulch that is affordable isn't easy to source. Amazing pioneers like Richard Perkins and Curtis Stone have emphatically stated that a deep mulch system is not suitable for commercial market gardens. I just don't see why the possibility is so easily dismissed. I can see certain long term crops such as nightshades, brassicas, cucurbits etc thriving. Just design it like a regular market garden with standardized beds and pathways. Rake away mulch onto the pathways and amend the soil. Transplant crops and put the mulch back on the bed. Because the crops are long term you might only have to do this once per season. To me the pros would outweigh the cons. This is basically what Daniel Mays does in his commercial market garden. The amount of compost and amendments lost every year to erosion is frightening. No-till market gardner's spend thousands of dollars every year bringing in compost only to have a large chunk of it wash away. Covering soils is definitely underutilized. Thanks for the good content. Your swim pond looks amazing. Subscribed.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. For the market gardeners, I can see their point. They have to balance workload because any labour is money. For us home gardeners, a little extra labour is love. They all use the LDPE plastic tarps. If reduces labour costs for them. I get it, but I think home gardeners need to also do what makes more sense for them, and its not what a market gardener does. At least not always. Thanks for well written comment, welcome aboard. We are glad to have you here.

@whereswendy8544 3 жыл бұрын

You have such a wealth of great gardening info! Thank you for sharing and keeping it understandable.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks as always Wendy, you are so kind.

@mariomorgado8569 3 жыл бұрын

Wearing a Leafs hat after a brutal loss - a sign of great character. Condolences from a long-suffering Rangers fan.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

LOL, this is the most abusive relationship of my life.

@drawingmomentum 3 жыл бұрын

I made my own compost (and leaf mold too). I'm making new annual beds in my yard (and areas of food forest). I fork the top layer of dead grass/weeds, add lots of my compost, some microrhizal mushrooms and some steer manure, with wood chips on top. I'm so glad our mountain town gets river irrigation water. I also have a cistern backup water supply.

@annburge291 3 жыл бұрын

Great video. Send some of your rain down south please. It's a pity that cloud cover doesn't count as a nitrogen fix because we often look at clouds scuttling along. The Back to Eden method did have a solution for annuals.... the woodchIps were brocken down in the chicken pen, then sifted and then spread over the annual vegetable beds. Paul did grow some vegetables around his apple trees such as cabbages... but his bed of woodchIps were extremely broken down and could almost be called compost. A bit of disturbance in the system is usually beneficial. A small port in the woodchIps, some bacterial rich compost and a few annuals won't cause much damage to the overall fungal networks... it just gives a little pruning and an alternative food supply and most plants benefit.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Excellent comment, agree completely.

@kicknadeadcat 3 жыл бұрын

Or you can make compost, worm castings tea. You can add some fish amino acid, sea salt and even a hand full of good garden soil. Aerate it. 1/2 to 1 cup per plant then strain and spray it on your plants. The best time to do this is just before rain. If there no rain in the forecast hose it down so the microbes are taken deep into the soil. A couple of years doing this you will have rich soil down to a foot or more.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Excellent comment. Here is my video making comfrey tea: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/id1nediG2968lGQ.html

@heathermacdonald6404 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the great video! I wish someone would tell the grass it's not supposed to like growing in my woodchip paths! :D

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah creeping rhizome spreading grasses especially.

@kirstianwhite6331 3 жыл бұрын

Lots of questions answered! Thank you!

@jeannechin5052 3 жыл бұрын

Love the information. Thank you!!

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

You are so welcome!

@williammcduff6531 3 жыл бұрын

Keith Another great video glad you continue to share your permaculture knowledge with your subscribers!

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks. And thank you for watching but also commenting. It helps the channel find more people.

@gregorys447 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you. I learned some more today! I appreciate your generosity.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

That's my goal with every video! Thanks for letting me know.

@ellelouise3724 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for such great information.🌿

@masonmason22 3 жыл бұрын

So much information and new (to me) ideas. Very helpful. Thanks for making this video.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Wonderful!

@AndyHan-AussieCanuck 3 жыл бұрын

Great info. Thank you for sharing!

@ourpeacefulhaven 2 жыл бұрын

This is exactly what I needed! Thanks! 🙏🏻🙌🏻

@trumpetingangel 8 ай бұрын

Charles Dowding is growing for market, so those holes from slugs can wreck the crops. Also, he succession plants intensively, so his gardens do require a great deal of added fertility.

@eviekleinwhittingham9237 3 жыл бұрын

Quick and to the point with helpful video. I especially appreciate the view of the flat lawn with the sloping garden at its edge, path and swale along contour below that. Great way to manage a slope for rainwater collection!

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! It has certainly worked out well!

@nodigBKMiche 3 жыл бұрын

Wow! Eye opening! Hadn't thought of fertilizing after mulching...lol! Thank you so much! 👍🏼💕🇨🇦 omg! Then you pointed out the rain water & the swales...You Rock My Friend! Thank you so Much for Sharing your info❤️🙏🏼

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

You are so welcome!

@KitchenGardenTherapy 3 жыл бұрын

Very informative video, thank you for sharing

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

My pleasure, thanks for watching.

@Mikhail-Caveman 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing! I like method number 3!

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, it's a great way to do it, especially if you are out there often.

@Naoma09 Жыл бұрын

I want to start by saying, I am very happy that I found this channel. I saw Paul's film back in 2015 when I was at a point where I wanted to make a small farm out of my 3/4 acre suburban lot in Northeast North Carolina. That first year was a lot of wood chips on the ground and I grew some food. I started making my own compost using horse manure/shavings and straw from the boarding facility where I keep my horses......and since then have moved 2x and improved my methods significantly - leading me to what I do now, and probably won't change it going forward - only difference now is that I felt I needed to start adding fertilizer to my gardening routine and am now implementing JADAM liquid ferts to the whole system. I'm taking a very hybridized approach.....I take my wood chips and add them to my composting system which includes my chicken run as step 1. I put the chips into the run once a week. 4 dumps of wood chips and daily food scrap additions. By week 4, I am ready to clear out the run. I take the run materials out, put their roost bedding on top of the bare ground, and start the process again. That run material then get's run through my hot compost system to process further. I get compost in about a month coming from that system. The chickens break those chips down by scratching and pooping on them. any seeds they have not eaten have a chance to germinate in the bins and when I finally start turning it, I have a lot of green biomass to fire that pile up. I turn it 4 times, then put it aside to mature before I use it. This is my second year of doing this and so far so good...no issues with nitrogen tie-up because the chips are processed already - lots of worms and pill bugs are added to my garden - my decorative beds are even planted up like a permaculture food forest. I add that compost to the top of those areas too. my blueberries thank me, and I am successfully growing potatoes in those areas because I was out of room in my veg beds. There is something fantastic about succeeding in a permaculture way, and healing the soil while still growing food for your family.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Жыл бұрын

Oh you are going to love my channel. I feel like I was reading my own words there! We do things VERY similarly.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Жыл бұрын

If you haven't seen this recent video yet, you will LOVE this one kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pr2JfZyI29vOm6c.html

@samanthamariah7625 3 жыл бұрын

Love the information about rain. I will definitely be changing my garden to be “on contour” (I think that’s what it’s called 😊). Thank you for the video!

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful Sam! Unless you hate being called Sam lol

@samanthamariah7625 3 жыл бұрын

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy My preference is usually Sam. It fits me best, especially when knee deep in compost wielding a pitchfork 🤣

@miqf914 3 жыл бұрын

We inherited a garden with 16 "wood-boxed" beds when we bought our place. It was very neat looking but not at all on contour, full of rotting planks, and a perfect haven for voles. Over the years I have ripped out the old beds and shifted their oriention to go with the contour. I am pleased with the results even if we have had 3 years of summer drought so I have not been able to reliably observe the rain soak and flow pattern.

@samanthamariah7625 3 жыл бұрын

@@miqf914 That’s inspiring to hear. I have an good situation here. The property is on a slope with sod being the only obstacle. The are large evergreens trees on two sides. The sun arrives and leaves at a decent amount of time. Still, I am intimidated so hats off to you 😊

@miqf914 3 жыл бұрын

@@samanthamariah7625 good luck with your project!

@Lauradicus 3 жыл бұрын

We have been raised to add fertility to the soil but you know what? If the soil’s microbiology is healthy and diverse everything ever needed to grow a healthy disease resistant plant is already right there. Well, it’s already there even if the microbiology is absent, it’s just not available to the plant. Add in the microbiology and all of the nitrogen, potassium , phosphorus, carbon and trace minerals become available to the plants. Charles Dowding’s no dig method is what I use and I made the mistake of buying most of the compost I used to make the beds. It was basically sterile. I’ve since added bacteria and fungi from supplements and all of a sudden everything is growing “properly” (cabbage is forming heads, radishes and other roots are forming bulbs). The parts of the garden that are not planted out yet have been treated with the supplements too. Without the plants to supply sugars from root exudates the microorganisms can die so I am watering with dilute solution of unsulphered organic molasses to feed the soil. I didn’t plant cover crops on the beds this last winter but I will this winter. I’m still on the fence about planting perennial evergreen ground cover (Dr. Elaine’s suggestion) but I may do this in my newest perennial bed. Still deciding, weighing pros and cons. Anyone else try this? I’m thinking Corsican Mint or German Chamomile. (Seattle area)

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

I love covercrops - I LOVE the idea of perennial evergreen covercrops. I'll have to do some digging and learn more about what options I have.

@nmnate 3 жыл бұрын

I amend with a top dressing of organic fertilizer or I'll water in a fish fertilizer (usually blended with something like kelp meal) a couple times during the growing season. I'll also occasionally top dress or water in more soil specific micronutrients (greensand, chelated iron, etc) to address things relative to my soil pH.

@dgraham4966 3 жыл бұрын

I was just wondering about this recently as the new mulched beds are slow to establish, and the smaller plants struggle a bit. Great video. I'm off to go watch the comfrey tea video. Mine are ready to harvest! Thanks!!

@dgraham4966 3 жыл бұрын

I'd also like to echo the others who have suggested benefits of compost tea. :) My chicken poop compost has recently been helping.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah it can definitely help get over the first hump of nitrogen tie up. After the bed matures a bit, and the organic material builds up, you see a much smoother plant response.

@KASA0828 3 жыл бұрын

This explains why the stuff I planted in old tires stuffed with wood chips at the bottom is not thriving. Prob nitrogen issue. Plus my pita squirrels. How to distract them?! Lol.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Squirrels are awesome. Garden buddies. Their benefit just isn't seen right away. Their tunnels bring water deep down into the soils. Their planting helps spread nuts and fruit. They manure just like any other animal. We often see them as pests but they are just another part of the ecosystem, and a valuable one. I would say the proper response to squirrels should be to plant hazelnuts for them if you have the room on your land (and if not, plant them on wild lands nearby - stormwater management ponds, abandoned parking lots, etc) Yes the woodchips being buried will tie up nitrogen. That bed will be good in a while, just not in the next few years. Just keep adding nitrogen to it (urine is a great way) and help speed up the breakdown. Obviously if you have plants you are eating from in there now, don't pee on plants you are eating from.

@KASA0828 3 жыл бұрын

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy The plants in the nitrogen lacking tires are flowers. 🤣 I lol’ed at your comment!!! I shall send my boys out to pee! Hazelnuts. I’ll plant some! Are they easily propagated? (I can research that.) I actually planted two hazelnut trees last month but they are babies. In the meantime, my “planting buddies” are planting trees in my veg beds, decapitating sunflowers, biting strawberries, and defoliating (is that a word?) my zinnias and marigolds:) I should mention that this is my FIRST season in the garden ever, and I’ve grown most of this stuff from seed :( ! So it’s a bit discouraging, but I will try to embrace them. Ty for your videos!!! Very helpful for the newbie (me)!

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

I'm glad to help, that's exactly why I made this channel... to get more new people gardening. If it helps, I knew literally nothing 6 years ago. You learn fast if you are open to learning and passionate about what you are doing. It just so happens that we are doing nothing less than saving the planet here, so it is pretty easy to find that passion. For hazelnuts they can be propagated by cuttings, but easily the best way to propagate them is by hiring some squirrels. No matter how many you think you will propagate, the squirrels will outdo you. This is their #1 favorite.

@KASA0828 3 жыл бұрын

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy I’m totally open and totally passionate. 🙏🏼

@craigmetcalfe1749 3 жыл бұрын

Hey Keith! Another one of your better videos that name drops (Charles Dowding), refers to rain as a fertility event (no wonder my mother wouldn't let me play in the rain...she didn't want me to get pregnant) and of course those board shorts. We are in the depths of Winter here and actually got into single digits overnight 9 deg C min and 23 deg C max so I am glad I have an Ugg boot in the cold climate permie camp. I enjoyed the coverage of the WWSW (World wide soil web), the gravitas you bring to swales and berms and a nod to what the French call Terroir. It's amazing what one remembers at the cross roads of alzheimer's and alcohol. I'd like to say I'm ready for the Old Man's walk but the sound of the running water at your place means that I wouldn't get too far before I had to use the facilities (they are everywhere in a food forest) which incidentally distinguished Chinese farmers in the early gold rush days in Australia. Keep doing what you're doing...that's what my father used to say to me. Cheers!

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

I wear these shorts because you never know when you'll have to rip a tidalwave. Best to be ready at all times. I'm glad you never got pregnant from a rain. Thank you for commenting as always. Good Lord your comments are something to be cherished and framed.

@ramthian 3 жыл бұрын

Hello again.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Welcome back :)

@MsCaterific 3 жыл бұрын

💚

@kescah 3 жыл бұрын

I have to learn more about the various fungi. So amazing and important! I learned on a video during the winter that sandy soil can be amended in five months to good loam by planting beans. So I planted fava beans, which are doing well, and on my next trip there I'll plant other beans in the same area. For now, soil repair is our main project. I'm not growing veggies this year or anything that must depend on watering to survive, because we still don't live in the area. I'll be glad if the beans can survive and do their work. Question: what other plants amend soil? Mushrooms for hugelculture, I know. Anything more? Also, I learned that rain contains hydrogen peroxide, H2O2. So a little extra oxygen, which is why plants are so perky after a rain.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

3 ways plants amend soil: 1) Photosynthesis - any plant does this. So yes every single plant on the planet amends soil. 2) Nitrogen fixers - upcoming video to discuss these in particular. Any nitrogen fixer will pull nitrogen out of the air and put it into the soil. The beans are one of these. Any plant in the legume family will do this. Many others also. 3) After they die as organic material. Again, any plant does this, but particularly useful are plants who make giant root crops or tubers. If we decide to leave these in the ground, AND they are not a perennial, then they will simply decompose and feed the soil life. The soil life builds the soil. A great example of this is daikon radishes - grow them, eat the tops, leave the radish in the soil. The entire radish will turn into worm poop after those guys do their thing.

@drawingmomentum 3 жыл бұрын

I've heard that sunflowers 🌻 are good for amending soil. And winter cover crops that get chopped before they seed and left in place.

@gooddogtrainingservices5351 2 жыл бұрын

Actually don’t find that with who go culture you have to put enough organic decomposing material to make up for it but the first few years there’s only certain crop chicken grow usually squashes or things that have deep spreading roots but definitely after a few years it starts putting out a lot more

@MushroomMagpie 3 жыл бұрын

Have you ever tried applying glacial rock dust for a ton of trace minerals? It washes easily, right down to the roots.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

No not yet. Some people amend with stuff like lava rock, azamite, etc. I may if my plants ever show signs of nutrient deficiency, but as for now everything is doing amazing.

@claraisely9397 3 жыл бұрын

I am gardening on old overtaxed sheep pasture. I amended with azomite broadcast by hand first time this Spring with great results. Horse manure with shavings my main deep mulch and compost. Mineral depletion showing with continued small insect infestations. Azomite clearly has helped. Also introduced several mushrooms. 🍀🌳

@mnossy11 Жыл бұрын

So I’m new to these ideas and am a bit confused. I just moved and have a smallish suburban grass backyard. I want to turn half of it into a veggie garden. I may be able to get free wood chips so I was thinking of doing that but now I’m not sure if that’ll work for veggies? If I’m starting from grass, what should I do first? Cover with paper and then what?

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Жыл бұрын

paper then a nice thick layer of compost to plant in. Then as a mulch you can do some woodchips, straw, or shredded leaves.

@charlescoker7752 6 ай бұрын

Back To Eden Garden Method is miss leading. Paul Gautschi had been organic gardening 13 years before he started putting woodchips down over his all ready teaming with life soil. He had been tilling in amendments for years. He says put down paper compost then chips. over your soil with no life in it. He says it could take 3 years to transform it. And they wonder why their plants look nothing like Paul's garden. Many just use some compost they make which has very little nitrogen. Paul uses his Chicken compost. Which is high in nitrogen. And for the past years. He uses Compost Cow manure. His climate does not get over 80 degrees in a normal summer. Even Charles Dowding temps do not get out of the 70's all summer

@deborahtofflemire7727 3 жыл бұрын

So I can put more compost on my mulch before a rain. .and I save rain water in barrels and water with it buy hand does this method work the same? Thank you.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, but for the second part, the nitrogen in the rainwater won't be there anymore. It doesn't last long - it's why a fresh rain often leads to so much green growth, compared to simply irrigating. Even if you store the rainwater, it will lose most of it's nitrogen from the atmospheric scrubbing very quickly.

@miqf914 3 жыл бұрын

Excellent, especially the info about the rain. I want to cry any time our droughts force me to use tap water. We have 5000 more liters of holding capacity than we did last year, so i hope we can get by with no tap water this year. Do the nitrogen benefits remain even if the rainwater stays in IBCs for weeks or months?

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Exactly, this is one reason why catching rainwater is so much better than using tapwater. No the nitrogen benefits do not remain - the nitrogen comes out of solution. Infact a lot of it is lost just on raindrop impact when the splash aerisols the raindrop. Smaller particles, higher surface area, higher gas exchange. Infact in industry we use things called de-aerators to pull gases out of water systems. We aerosol them by spraying them through a nozzle, and the gases come out of the water, the water collects at the bottom of the tank, then gets pumped to it's next destination with all the gases evacuated out of it. This helps for corrosion control due to oxidation. For tapwater, this water has long had it's nitrogen removed. However even for captured rainwater in a rainwater catchment system - after a few hours most of the nitrogen in the water has been lost. That's why it's so important to design on contour - it's the rainfall events themselves that are the fertility events. That rainwater is still good later on - for irrigation purposes. It's just lost a lot of it's nitrogen back into the atmosphere by then.

@miqf914 3 жыл бұрын

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Thanks for the reply. That was my thought but I had no scientific explanation to back it up. 😋

@cb-tc9lw 3 жыл бұрын

Great video. I mulch with woodchips. Would adding a layer of woodchips every year not amend your soil enough? The bottom of the chips would be turning to soil and the top layers act as a mulch. Kind of a variation on Hugels.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

It depends how fast they break down, which depends on your humidity, heat and rain. Hot, wet, humid climate, yes. Hot, dry, no. Cool wet, maybe but probably not.

@cb-tc9lw 3 жыл бұрын

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy We have the same local nursery so the climate is very similar to yours. I am trying all sorts of things and hoping that some ideas pan out. The Hugels seem to be the most productive so far and they are not even a year old yet. I have a reliable source of cheap woodchips that I use to try and smother my poison ivy with and am also purposing it in the orchard. My woodchips seem to break down quite quickly, it is pretty most in my area in general. I also spread clover seed all around my beds and orchard to try and bump up the nitrogen levels.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome, neighbour! For the poison ivy, I'm not sure how long you have been doing that for, but just be careful. Poison ivy is really good at surviving sheet mulching. I find I sheet mulched it super thick and it was popping back up everywhere 2 years later, perfectly happy and now mulched! I have to put long sleeves, double gloves and physically pull it out before I sheet mulch.

@cb-tc9lw 3 жыл бұрын

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy It has been my bane for years now. With a toddler and a baby I have redoubled my efforts. My neighbour keeps sheep and we are trying to work out a sharing agreement where we set up some electric fence and walk the sheep over in the morning and back in the evening. You know, old school shepherd style. I am really wanting to avoid using glyphosate anywhere on the property.

@organicnorth5492 2 жыл бұрын

Does rainwater collected in rain barrels hold the nitrogen surrounding the raindrop or does it gas off while being stored?

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 2 жыл бұрын

It will slowly off gas at the surface level and leak out various fittings

@organicnorth5492 2 жыл бұрын

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Thanks :) You are very knowledgeable and I am really enjoying the details and depth you are diving into to explain soil health.

@jennifer6198 3 жыл бұрын

Curious about your metal 'screens' (?) Climbers? Privacy? Hold up flowering kale?

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Trellises for tomatoes, beans and peas this year. But the answer is a yes to all of those (except maybe the kale).

@VanillaAttila 3 жыл бұрын

@@ediblelandscaping1504 You can use old Christmas tree branches stuck in the ground to help with the first 2 feet :)

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I find peas and beans stand okay by themselves for about a foot or so. I may run some chicken wire across the lower area, but those panels were expensive, and I wanted them high to get up over the garden stuff south of them. I very well may need to change the design for next season, but we will see. Tomatoes I can drop some string down and get them up high enough.

@edscukas9689 2 жыл бұрын

How do you add more woodchips to your perennial beds with so many plants in there? So would broadcasting white clover on top of woodchips that have been breaking down for over a year not work? I was planning to plant white clovers in my pathways as a fodder for my animals for the bees and for green mulch. Plus the soil benefits of the clovers themself!

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 2 жыл бұрын

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eZZniZmop7zdmnU.html I have a video on that topic! The video focuses a bit on amending the beds, but adding woodchips is similar. For beds with plants in them already, wait until plants are dormant and add them on top then. They will push up through 3+ inches no problem. For a new seeding of clover, you can sow right into woodchips and water to have the water bring them down. Or even more efficient, do it just before a massive rainstorm and let nature do it for you. The more aged the chips, the better as the soil level will be closer to the top. Clover is hardy like this, it can root right into a woodchip (I have seen it) and get all its nitrogen from the air! 100% of the rootmass of a new seed into a solid woodchip.

@edscukas9689 2 жыл бұрын

@@CanadianPermacultureLegacy awesome thanks so much for the information! Can’t wait for spring to get sowing!! Love your channel and slowly making my way through your video catalog!!

@rvliving1310 3 жыл бұрын

You don’t have to do anything to amend the soils once a good mix of wood mulch or leaf mulch is put on the soil just keep it moist so they continue to break down the worm that worms that will appear will amend the soils.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Just remember, leafy plants want bacterial dominated soils. You don't have to amend, but it's a good idea to. They will do better with some compost or manure down there to breed the bacteria that they have evolved beside for millions of years. Once soils start turning heavily fungal, most annual veggie plants would slowly cede away to tree species.

@PaleGhost69 3 жыл бұрын

Can't watch right now but wanted to be first. What happened to your pin mic?

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Sometimes I just decide to shoot and don't go get it. It's somewhere...

@mariusluca7936 3 жыл бұрын

'We have tons of slugs and I don't find this is a problem'. Could you please elaborate? How do you establish either perennials or annuals with so many slugs around? Thanks.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

We lose some leafy greens to slugs, but since we're not a market garden, our leaves don't have to "look perfect". There's nothing inherently wrong with some bug bites or slug bites out of something. Just wash it and eat it. Totally healthy still. The problem with slugs are more along the lines of a problem with us - we refuse to eat anything other than perfect looking food. So that's an "us" problem that we can solve pretty easily if we have the mental fortitude to do it. Slugs are actually food for birds, so having slugs is a good thing, because you'll attract birds. Having a million slugs obviously can be a problem, but often I think people *believe* they have a million slugs but they just have "some slugs". We just have this default mentality of wanting to eradicate everything. However, someone really does have a million slugs, you can put boards down at night in the problem areas, wake up at 5AM (before sunrise) and lift the boards up. SO MANY slugs will be under the boards. Collect and dispose. The only place slugs are a little annoying for me are in the strawberry patch. And not because they get SOME strawberries, but rather that they eat a tiny little bit of one and that's it. Then the strawberry rots and is wasted. I don't mind if they take the whole thing (I will still get plenty), but they are just wasteful about it. Still - I just toss those strawberries into the foodforest and the seeds will make new strawberry plants in time.

@dgraham4966 3 жыл бұрын

Here in the PNW I literally have "so many slugs". I got ducks this spring and plan to repurpose those slugs into fertilizer... ;)

@mariusluca7936 3 жыл бұрын

@@dgraham4966 so did I. It was just a ridiculous imbalance in the system, allowing for tooooo many slugs to just trash everything they put their...antennas on :)

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Good Plan with the ducks. I hear that Muskovy ducks in particular like them. Not sure if that helps. I believe I heard it on a podcast somewhere, so it's a sample size of 1 person, but still.

@dgraham4966 3 жыл бұрын

I can also say with confidence that runner ducks LOVE slugs. :) The ducks are a bit skiddish, and I haven't seen yet how they do near my leafy greens... but so far they are helping with the slugs!

@dr.brockley7959 3 жыл бұрын

Do you think random wood chips from arborists can 1) potentially carry fungal diseases that could transmit to your plants, specifically fruit trees and 2) contain chips from cedar or walnut that can contain growth suppressing chemicals? I have read posts from educated people on both sides of the debate.

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

Yes to both, and the concern for both is VERY small. For #1 of anything you can get from somewhere else woodchips are probably probably single cleanest thing for stuff like herbicides and pesticides. For fungal diseases, there is fungus in everything. Even if you get a load of topsoil dropped off for your lawn, it is carrying fungi. Don't worry about it. For #2, unless the load is specifically ONLY a juglans tree, or cedars don't worry about it. If they are a mix of many trees that also have walnut in it, that's fine. If they came from a large pile then it's definitely fine, as the high temp in the large pile will break it all down.

@annburge291 3 жыл бұрын

Found another conversation that might interest you... The Australian first inhabitants often complain that the white fellas don't know how to mind the bush because they let the trees cover too much expanse and they don't allow grass clearings ( produced by cold burning). You could say it's the bacterial, fungal balance. Some people misinterpret the back to Eden method and they cover the whole yard in a deep consistent bed of woodchIps... forgetting about the need for bacterial balance. This conversation talks about how certain plants use bacteria in a cyclic manner for Nitrogen fixing and root and hair growth. This is particularly important in drylands such as Chihuahua. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/j66addSb2NmVdps.html

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy 3 жыл бұрын

I will have to check it out later. I enjoy Matt

@NashvilleMonkey1000 3 жыл бұрын

Food forests are designed to last indefinitely, these running systems were supposed to be several times older than the people tending them, ancient kings tore them down enforcing proxy on the people, leaving us the task of rebuilding from scratch. There is no "Instant Permaculture", the principles are entirely the opposite, still we are left with having to make instant permaculture. The problem comes from having to shift our mindset in mid-design from instant building to building up, and permaculture built on the concept of proxy is only designed to tear itself down. we must shift our thinking away from proxy in order to build together, there is no other way~

@jasonmercieca3064 Жыл бұрын

So who amends the soil in nature? This seems very counterintuitive, the back down of the wood chip is amending the soil for you

@CanadianPermacultureLegacy Жыл бұрын

Nature also transitions soil and ecosystems from grasslands to scrublands to forest. In my food forests I dont amend the soil. However, annual gardens are heavy feeders and they do not exist in nature. Nature won't plant lettuces and tomatoes every year in an area. It slowly turns to scrubland. So while I always recommend to look to what Nature does, when our goals are a system that is not found in Nature (stalling and ecosystem at essentially herbaceous grassland plants), then often we need to take action to prevent the soils from transitioning to fungal dominated acidic forest soils. We do that by adding bacterial heavy compost.