On your property your cutting those big thirsty none native trees down. Yes some not all but there all same family but do you want to give mesquite trees a try from seed I mean all 12 or 13 kinds. So there all desert to sub desert trees but can take your weather there i looked. Oh they all make edible fruits but the cotton 1 you don't want to eat but its the 1 used for BBQ the wood is. Thoughts do you think this will be good experience for you never need to water except when you germinate them or just wate for rain lol.

hey, i was wondering what area of San Diego you live in because i live in-between the more mountainous regions and the more coastal regions. i live in the town most known for mission trails park. the main thing i was wondering about is how i can turn my soil, which is just fill dirt, into something much more nutrient rich so i can grow more than just pumpkins. or if you think i should just build some raised ground beds. also, your channel has really helped me a lot since we live in a very similar area.

Cool

Can you do a short compilation on the top books you recommend? I've seen you talk about a few here and there, but finding those specific episodes is... challenging.

@@knightly_bear I live in a canyon south of you and found my soil to be just slightly more fertile than plain rocks. To amend it, I used a healthy supply of homemade compost, steer and chicken manure, perlite and peat moss. The resulting soil, after only four months, has a ton of organic life (worms, etc.) and is quite fertile and well draining. My winter peas are producing well, as are the greens (lettuce, turnips, etc.) Only downside I've found is the dormant weeds/grass that found their way into my amended soil. I spent a lot of time early on pulling weed and grass seedlings out but once you pull one, it is gone for good so by now, I only get one or two unwanted visitors.

I'm sorry he didn't respond to you. Just wanted to tell you, great job!

That's awesome, I wish I had started at your age.

Congrats man!

Congratulations lil dude. That’s a lot of work but it’s super rewarding

Hey In case you haven’t heard lately you inspire ME.

Good call!

Ahh... The most dangerous kitchen tool.

@@LazyGardenGamer you mean the finger filet

@@LazyGardenGamer Which is why I finally bought the protector gloves!!! LOL Amazon or William Sonoma. Now I can take that mandolin out of the box!!

it always listens when you say just the tip

Love Alton!

i could never get this method to work lol

lol

That sounds like a lot of disposable filter waste... A lot of stray fibers in your herbs, and soon more $ than a used dehydrator off eBay which are not in short supply!

Nice. 🌱💚🌱

wow

My dehydrator is also that old, but in my case I am the grandmother that still owns it! Lol

Thank you- I have had the Excaliber for over 8 years and never use it- I really need to do this!!

Oooo that sounds fun! I'm curious, what did you use the tomato peels for? Also does it retain a major or minor flavor profile?

Good to know! ☺️

Good tip! Thanks!

Makes sense! I had a lot if small spice jars when I dried my parsley. This way I only open one jar to the air until it is empty.

Such a versatile herb!

I make tumeric and roasted onion sourdough all the time! It's so tasty and great for instagram haha

Soon!

You bet!

How long have you been growing the herbs?

Absolutely love my freeze dryer!

The color and flavor are amazing with a freeze dryer. One of my favorite uses for ours. Cayenne pepper is so bright.

@@epicgardeningwhat is the name of your freeze dryer?

Incredible!

Will do!

So nice of you

Also, all dehydrated items should be conditioned for 7 - 10 days. That way, we can check for hidden moisture.

Totally agree

I bet you could!

Yes, adding mycorrhiza definitely helps the process to go a bit faster. Here's my real-life story: I used to add mycorrhiza to my "compost pile" which was only there for the sole purpose of breaking down the dog doo. (Kinda gross, I know!) But here's the thing- I was living in the burbs, houses all squished together, neighbors very much close by, and NOBODY likes smelling the aroma of a neighbors dog, if ya know what I mean! Besides that, where else are you going to put it?!! I never really thought storing it in the trash can was a good idea. I mean, the smell, ick!! Plus, putting it into plastic just seems wrong. Back to the composting... Now yes, the dog's participation in this process comes complete with plenty of microbes, I know. However, my big problem was I didn't always have enough carbon, ie; dried leaves to balance this composting process. We had plenty of grass, but no large trees. So every other month I would add a new sprinkling of mycorrhiza to the pile, and make sure to turn the Compost pile weekly as we added the dog's offerings. Worked like a charm! It never smelled bad, not even after a rain. Probably bcuz I always made sure to cover the new "stuff". The compost pile was only 8 feet away from my neighbor's bedroom window, and they never had any issue with it bothering them, and yes, I did ask! Bcuz really, what would be the point if it was still stinky? An added bonus was when the oldest kid got old enough to take on the chore of collecting the dog's offerings, there was a safe place for them to empty their bucket without getting all dirty. I would follow with turning the compost to cover everything. Also, I should add: ☆ NEVER use the finished composted product from this type of compost pile to ANY food garden!! Even tho it's well composted, "they" say there are still certain pathogens that could be transferred to food plants. I never had it tested, I'm just repeating what "they" say! Anyway, I can honestly say that adding mycorrhiza, even to a well balanced compost pile, WILL help kick start the decomp process whenever you add new offerings (of any kind) to "The Composting Gods"!

Also, in my present location I too have a leaf composting area. Now I have the opposite problem I had in the burbs. Now I have too many leaves, not as much grass! I must admit, I feel this is a much better problem to have! But as you probably know, waiting for leaves (by themselves) to breakdown into compost takes a whole lot longer than a regular compost pile! And I only have the thick Oak leaves. They take the longest! A minimum of 3 years! Talk about playing the long game!! So now I make up for the lack of grass clippings by tossing a light layer of worm castings over my leaf pile. The worm castings are high in Nitrogen, and the dried leaves are the Carbon. There are lots of different ideas out there about the ratio of carbon to nitrogen to have a well balanced compost pile. I can only say at my house, it takes less nitrogen than carbon to breakdown quite nicely. So the amount of worm castings I use is just a light sprinkle over about 1 inch of mulched leaves. Besides, I could never afford to do a 50:50 ratio of nitrogen to carbon using worm castings! That would just be crazy! The worm castings do help the leaf composting process go a bit faster than just leaves by themselves. Some years, if I remember, I add a super light sprinkle of mycorrhiza to my leaf pile, but I haven't been able to tell if it makes the leaf composting go any quicker. That's probably bcuz my leaves are the thicker kind, and they just take a really long time to break down, no matter what. Maybe if you only had the thinner leaves, the mycorrhiza would make a noticeable time difference? That's a good experiment! But it does satisfy the gardener in me to add the mycorrhiza! And hey, a little extra kick start sure can't hurt, right?!!