I came across a study done on mineral content of fall leaves. According to what was found, fall leaves provide a much higher rate of availabe minerals than any rock dust. I've been collecting, shredding and using leaves in my garden ever since and have seen impressive results. I would really appreciate your opinion on the subject matter.

I have just recently been taught that calcium is a huge amendment or nutrient that plants need. My tomato plants had turned yellow on the new growth and I asked my dad about it and he said whenever that happens on my plants I hit it with calcium so I'm like OK so I bought some cal- mag plus and with 2 applications of it via foliar spray about 6 days apart from each other those plants turned green and have been healthy ever since. Thanks dad.

Keeping the soil covered is key. Tarps helped a lot in the beginning. Woodchips and cover crops with occulation creates worm castings in my beds. The exciting part of that for me is I don't have to move them there the worms do the work. Knox TN area

I'm an old gardener who won't live long enough to know if rhizophagy is more than a theory. My vote for a fifth amendment is a farmer's shadow on the soil.

Over here in Cape Town, South Africa I have this tough Kikuya grass so I have to dig it out and put in a barrier (cement slabs) to keep it out. This and sifting the soil to get rid of junk that previous people buried in my garden really knocks the soil. After this I dig in compost and cover with cardboard, I cut holes in the cardboard and grow my plants inside the "grow tubes" (soda bottles cut into short tubes) that I put in the holes. I always leave a cleaned out patch fallow from time to time to get the soil to regenerate, My soil is improving as I found earth worms coming back over time.

What a fantastic video, thank you! I'm new here but have been gardening for half a century -- and learn new things every day. I'm currently gardening in Detroit, in dirt and debris that filled the basements of the houses that got knocked down to create the empty lots I now tend. Mostly clay and old sinks. Not exactly fertile or good drainage. Forage (daikon) radish are absolute MAGIC. Just sprinkle the seeds like fairy dust all around your garden in late summer/early winter (in among what's already growing). The radish germinates, sends down thick roots, but that's not all. Over winter, when they freeze, they turn into radish mush that is soil critter elixir. The first spring, the soil's much improved, by the second spring, it's amazing, rich and loamy. I'll come back next spring to report what happens the third spring. (Probably by then I'll shift to a more varied cover crop, but desperately needed to address the compaction.) Meanwhile I'll be watching your vids and getting more ideas. Best to all!

I mow leaves and use them for mulch. Oaks mainly. They go deep into the ground and bring up nutrients and then release them in the fall to feed the soil. Just like was intended all along. If you have ever walked in a forest you will see what loam soil is.

Not ill growers is one of the better youtube channels. Keep up the good work.

incredibly informative, thanks for breaking all this down. i really like these videos where you basically put a whole bunch of these different topics together to suss them out and get perspective on them. would love to see more, including irrigation, greenhouses, and whatever else.

In 30 years of managing very heavy clay soils (like, wow, down the street from a pottery clay pit) I discovered that it works better to fork/build wide shallow beds for everything, including trees, not deep. Lets the roots spread out and forage. Deep holes make little clay pot bath tubs that will kill roots in our rainy winter months. I also learned I had to add organic material in huge proportions relentlessly, constantly, adding 6 - 8 inches or more at a time to keep up with the subtropical munching of our microbes taking it back down to nothing in a year or less. I also add whatever mulch I can on top in a wider shallow area, which helps the soil pores give the water somewhere to soak into during droughts, and also somewhere else lower to drain in times of torrential rains. Coffee grounds from restaurants, shredded cardboard and junk mail paper, kitchen compost, spent potting soil, *anything* I can. I used to scavenge big trash bags of kelp off the beach (different house now) but I don't think that's legal now. I have sometimes brought in big loads of commercial compost, but now I'm hearing about gardeners having issues with persistent herbicides like Grazon. Some KZfaqrs suggest getting a compost sample and testing it with bean sprouts, very quick reactions. Scoffing a few cups at the local suppliers might be unpopular round here. I know this would be a different video subject, but do you have any other suggestions on how to prescreen this stuff safely?

In one video you covered an enormous amount of info that the beginner gardener really needs to know. Great Job. Just ordered your book. Can’t wait to devour it.

Watching this video at the beginning of spring here in NH has become an annual tradition for me. Always helps to go back to basics and remind myself what's most important. Thanks so much!

This was really interesting and just what I need to keep off the garden while I figure out my sandy soil has nothing and I am basically starting from scratch lol. It's really good info. There is so much going on in the soil. I don't know how you guys figure all this stuff out, but I thank you for doing so and sharing.

I very much appreciate your b roll “demos”. Makes it very easy to keep up. Subscribed. I’m trying to work with a food forest, a pasture, and market garden. I have goats, poultry, and pigs for compost, I try to be organic when possible (zero fruit in 4 years so far) I found this video helpful. Thanks

Thanks for this video on a very interesting topic. They give you new insights. I myself make compost according to the 'Charles Dowding method'. And I mixed vegetables and herbs in the vegetable garden. This helps for the necessary insects and the plant roots feed each other. The plants are growing well and are healthy. Until then, the harvests are satisfactory.

I truly appreciate your fellow thinking man delivery. I am also on the same page with local microbes, earthworms castings, adding aged manures. So glad that I subscribed always looking forward to more of your clearly and well expressed point of view. So similar to my own. Kindly keep them coming. Be well, Tom.

Thank you for the science based analysis. It really helps to cut through a lot of untested or ineffective methods.

Best soil tip I have is about compaction. When you have soil so compacted you can't get a regular fork in, let alone a broadfork, get a bulb planting auger bit and drill baby drill, every 6" as deep as you can get, fill the holes with compost, build the bed on top of that

Not only am I strengthening my knowledge a lot from you, but also taking many notes about video production! Would love to see you get to 100 million subscribers, from the fact that many more folks are growing food. Keep up the amazing work

I am a novice trying to turn my sand into a garden. You said so many words that I've never even heard of that I watched this twice. #Florida

Am loving this video, I have taken so much on from it. We have a 40 acre farm that's gotten way out of hand, so this vid has helped massively.

Amazing! I am starting my small 5k sq ft garden soon, on my own on a compressed land that hasn't been touched for at least 10 years, and this channel helped me a lot, lot.

No problem with the length of the video. As long as you keep on with the rational, reasonable sounding tone, and provide additional, possibly accurate and useful information, you can talk all day long, and I'll still watch! Thanks for the great effort(s)!

I liked AND subscribed before the intro even finished (which i've never done before) and didn't regret it by the end of the vid. Very informative, and very entertaining, a rare combo. Thanks, Jesse!

"I've read a lot of research papers and consumed a lot of beer too ultimately come to some reasonable conclusions..." You sir, have quickly gotten me on your side! +1 regular viewer

I've been binging hard on Kempf and AEA's podcast recordings on KZfaq and cannot echo the recommendation hard enough. It's amazing how accessible Kempf, his colleagues, and guests make the pioneering science of Ingham and so many other researchers to growers and other non-agronomists. Although AEA sells products to help people build good soil and crop health, I love that their apparent mission is to work themselves into obsolesence by empowering growers out of needing external inputs, be they material or informational.

One of my friends got me your book for my birthday and I love it and I always look at how dense the soil is and then brake out my microscope. I like using my worm castings with a watering from the water change water from my turtle tank, everything seems to love the tank water

Just starting my regen ag/organic journey for my personal veggie garden here in Western NC zone7B. Early results look very promising. Using some of AEA’s products. John Kempf knows his stuff. You and he have opened my eyes to what the real soil and plant health needs are. Thanks so much for sharing your hard earned info with us all.

Funny how the title has "Simplified", but I have so many more questions now. In the good way of course. I really appreciate your informed approach and willingness to accept that the views of others may be beneficial to the bigger conversation. Excellent talk.

I'm learning about no till. I have a lot of clay. Used a fork for my 1st bed. Finally got an old Tory Built Horse working which I love. I'm geeking out on the compost also. Can't wait to try one of your aeration tubes! Thank you!

Incredible video for me, a novice gardener as of May. Thank you.

The more diverse your organic materials for making your compost the better you can usually find out if sprays have been used on the smaller grassés and shrubs for your green matter or grow your compost materials if you have the room use them along with the leaves of preferably hardwood trees and the mold under pines as well as oaks are great for your soil I use pine mulch ( needles) for my walkways . It is a wives tale that they cause acidity to the soil .

Great content! When I taught urban farming in DC, people would always ask for the simple version and I’d say: “add organic material, wait and watch. After a long enough timeline, your plants will be as healthy as anyone else’s.” Now I’m in Hawai’i and biochar has been the magic ingredient. 🤙

Solo homesteader on two acres central Texas and I really appreciate all your expert explanations. For once, in 67 years, I finally understand soil. Thank you for that. Awesome.

Going to need to watch this a few times. Seems like you are condensing a lot of research and practical experience. Thanks for this.

THIS... All day this. This is the level of detail and of "why" that is missing from my life. Thank you.

We’re seven cycles into our living soil, using Hemp to put root mass into the Florida sand. Great video!

Great video! For us an essential amendment is a Protozoa infusion especially on any new beds to really get nutrient cycling going. We use a 55 gal drum filled with water and 10 cups of alfalfa meal. Brew that for 40-50hrs depending on weather and check under the microscope before applying.

Just found this channel and happened to be looking specifically for how to fix my terrible Kentucky soil lol. (I’ve only been here a few years and I know nothing about Kentucky soil). So glad I found your channel; I love your energy!

YOUR VIDEOS ARE NEVER TO LONG FOR ME !!!!! THANKYOU FOR YOUR WISDOM

I would give just about anything for a chance to have a beer with you, nerd out about plants and soil and pick your brain for a few hours. 😅 I've never come across anyone else who can nerd out about this stuff as me until you!!! You have so much knowledge! And I love your open approach to improving your list of tools and strategies with regards to farming

My man jess great video! Been following you on KZfaq for a couple years now. Especially since I live in central Indiana running my small market farm that I started last year. I been waiting for you to do a more in depth video such as this. Btw I prefer the longer videos more information I collect and get ideas for. Thanks keep up the good fight.

Even though I listened carefully throughout, I’ll watch this again. Very well done. Thank you for your time in making this presentation.

I inherited 'parking lot soil'...heavy clay with lots of rocks...top soil like subsoil. When I tilled it was like tilling a roadway! One fall I coiled a 12' snow fence in the garden and filled with leaves. In the spring I removed the remnants and tilled the garden. Tough going, but when I hit the spot where the leaves had been, the tiller sank effortlessly to it's maximum depth - nature had already tilled it for me. So 'No Till' might be called 'Nature till' when enough organic matter is used. 😊

Your video could definitely be 10 hours longer, you’re easy to listen to cause besides writing down a couple of names. I was able to follow you all the way through. I’m just trying to get started in this, so your insight is very valuable to me. Thank you very much.

I have never laughed so hard, and then been so amazed by the density of information in a talk. I could watch this 10 times and still be hearing new things in new ways that I hadn't considered before.

Learning farming skills at Sugar Camp Farm in Cheatham county, Tennessee. Thank you for your video and all you do to help educate and share your no till growing experience.

Excellent video. I grow no dig in SW Britain in a small productive garden. I find yields from different veg vary considerably every year. This year has been so dry, only potatoes broad beans & strawberries have done well so far. Thx for all the info

I'm a fan of propagating microherds in compost teas, but have different methods for different goals. For high phosphorus and calcium eating plants like tomato's I have my own technique adapted from other techs. Take cooked brown rice and mix with a handful of bone meal and place in a Tupperware uncovered outside. Leave it outside until a visible fungi or bacteria presence is there, it may be necessary to wet the mixture so it doesn't dry out. Them bring inside, cover loosely and allow whatever inoculate that has taken hold to propagate. By taking indigenous micro organisms that can tolerate or grow on high calcium/phosphorous environments and making teas with them you can more fully utilize the phosphates and calcium that are naturally present in your soils and compost.

Very interesting. I now know that I know next to nothing about gardening or soil amending.

I really enjoyed this. You are easy to listen to and are obviously very knowledgable. Thanks!

nice alternative to a penetrometer for DIY soil compaction, study the native plants in said soil. Fluffy roots, loose soil, long tap roots, nature is already working on loosening it. There are certain species to look for in any given grow zone that will tell you exactly the state of your soil compaction

5. Buckwheat cover crop mowing. If you have the space, after every crop harvest, throw down buckwheat and let it grow 5-10 weeks and mow it down (every bed that isn't going to be direct seeded). It just produces so much mass so quickly along with quick roots and nitrogen fixing. It amazes me that people still use tarps when buckwheat does the same thing and more.

Thank you for including the science behind why these methods work. I for one need that kind of background in order to better understand why I should be doing something a certain way.

Just found your channel and I'm in love with the nerdiness 🤸 going to binge on more videos! Subscribed!

you are the man jesse. thanks for all you do!

Awesome video. I am also a soil nerd so yes this video was long but I wouldn’t mind if it was 3 times longer honestly 😂

Wanted to shout out to your book. Half ways through it and glad I still have a couple months till my spring garden 👍🏽

Just starting my small organic garden at home and got a ton insight from your awesome video. Greetings from Indonesia.

I would love a video on what amendments/foliar feeds/whatever you use on specific crops and at what stage of growth or symptoms. That would be fantastic, even if it is specific to your soil and climate. Great work. Greetings from Northern Germany.

beer is essentual, and other great content. Thanks, love your delivery style.

I thoroughly enjoyed your knowledgeable approach to the topic and candid presentation. Happy growing!

this was fantastic and would love to hear more on topics mentioned throughout, thank you for sharing

Amazing video... I have been reading books on this topic for years and absorbing as much information as possible. Learning from Dr. Elaine Ingham has been a ton of help. You wrapped up a good sum of the information in this short video very well. I am working on my information delivery in my videos and you are a great example for me! Thanks!!

Here’s a personal tip.. I had great soil in an area.. It looked like rich cottage cheese full of soil aggregates.. It was nearby a paver patio and was prone to Japanese stiltweed seedlings. So last fall I decided I was tired of pulling weeds out of my pavers and pulling up Japanese stiltweed in my garden area. I heavily mulched with woodchips and I sealed the paver gaps.. A week later I saw pooling from a heavy storm on my pavers.. This occurred all season.. When spring came along and I transplanted my flower starters and veggies, I noticed my soil was very slick, like a wet paste.. That garden area had been soaking up all the paver water and the heavy woodchips mulch wasn’t helping evaporation. The soil didn’t have an anaerobic smell, but it was on its way… Always be mindful of major changes in your landscape..

I really love your videos! Always informative and entertaining. Thank you!

My new favorite garden dude! Really looking forward to watching more of these.

Had to go back a second time to make you said it but you had me at “consumed a lot of beer”. 😂😂

I live in Kodiak, AK and our soils here are very shallow with a very thin organic top layer that sits on top of really rocky clay mix. To boot where my house is, the river used to run through and when you dig you hit big ol rocks that were deposited. The soils here suck. The access to compost is limited to either buying it by the bag at the hardware store, or from the waste treatment (biosolids). We have been making our compost with the largest free resource we have...Kelp. We collect throughout the winter and spring let it rinse off then in the fall we layer all the beds with it, and within days earthworms are thick. We blend the kelp to feed our chickens and use the "goo" to feed the plants. We mix in some horse manure with the composting kelp and make tea with that. We have been experimenting with biosolids and have had great success, but we still employ all the other things as well. In the two years we have been building the soils here the yields have been higher, and the plants just seem healthier. Your vids have helped us so much to implement a lasting soil regime that it will last long after we are gone and for that I thank you.

I love your sense of humor… and consumed a lot of beers. Thanks for sharing this knowledge. I don’t think I’ll be a grower to the extent some of you are just trying not to grow weeds intentionally if I can help it. Mother Earth sure loves you!!

Great video, I love how you approach this scientifically, but also practically. I'm too new to all of this to make it complicated just yet. But I can easily implement a few of those things!

After 31 years of practice I definitely affirm that... yes, beer is essential!

After a couple years of organic farming experience, if someone asked me for the number one thing to succeed at organic farming i would say this: FEED THE SOIL (organic matter - preferably decomposed/composted)!

Holy moly, this is DEEP! So much information; he's on a whole different level. But I understood some of the information. Thank you.

I dug a 12 inch wide ditch around my garden to shed excess water. My biggest garden is slightly graded downhill and there's a huge hill behind my house so there was a ton of runoff water that kept washing my topsoil away.

I would like the 10-hour long version please.

First I want to compliment you on your knowledge of soil health and all the schools of thought on it. I live in Oldham county was curious how you market your produce. Your intelligent approach to growing does a lot to dispel the stereotype of the ignorant Kentucky hillbilly.

So nice to have someone who doesn´t promote expensive, useless practices. Top grade on this one! I´m still not convinced that compost tea and foliage sprays will give my plants any benefits, but i have to test it more I think.

It is amazing how complicated the soil is !!!

If you want to see beautiful, healthy soil just go into the woods and brush away the leaves and grab a handful. You know the spot its where we haven't been "helping" it.

Greetings @No-TillGrowers, I really love and appreciate your channel and all the knowledge you post. I can't tell you how much your channel has helped me tweak my methods. I do not always have help to build my farm, but, I must admit I have decided to go #NOTILL thanks to YOUR CHANNEL! At first, I thought "What kind of lazy ish is he talking"! Then I moved to the Arizona Mountains and BOOM! I NEEDED YOU MORE THAN EVER!!! #Thank you so much for the information, physical example that shows me exactly how to execute and you've given me more confidence to not allow my challenges to consume me. I am a new sub, but, I'm here to stay for the knowledge. I also like your humor. You're my kind of guy. #StayAwesome and #StayBlessed #Keepupthegreatwork

You´ve got yourself a new follower. I was only ten minutes in and your humor is exactly my type of humor. You can not believe how many times I laughed out lout. By the way, also super informative AND helpful information. Very resourceful. But God... I love your way of thinking, I totally, one hunderd percent... GET it.

Tremendous explanation, thank you man. These are the folks I want to buy all my produce from.

Great presentation, balanced, I have gardened all my 64 years, as a 2 year old crawled down a hill, crawled back up, was in a doghouse with our dog and a cob of corn, they after panicking I was lost, we were surrounded by forest, they relaxed, dog gone too, found me following the corn husk trail, used the dog as a nap pillow. So I grew up in a garden too. Have had many garden locations, my most difficult right now is Arizona, .71 organics, very high sodium, high Boron, high calcium, 8.3 PH on amended soils, now with alfalfa, wood chips I now can grow trees, gardens, at first a big fat nothing. My levels are coming up or down to balance the macros, micros, PH, organics, deep tilled 6 " chips to get drainage , and organics for worm, lots now BUT. SALTS grrr Now I'm going to try Humics, liquid, solids, as the salts are killing me. Cover crops, 2 seasons worth, I'm going to kick it's butt, I hope, any suggestions ? Anyone.

7:48 This is where I just couldn't hear anything you said after. I had to replay it several times to pay attention to anything more than my imagining some flakey buttery crumbing nom noms.

Again I learn. All the comments are a huge help also. Havagudun all of you and especially Jesse.

VERY GOOD INFORMATION AS IM LEARNING HOW TO SUPPLEMENT THE SOIL IN MY GARDENS NATURALLY. THANKS

You mentioned C02 shedding, what are your thoughts in regards to biochar as an amendment as well as biochar additives in compost? This video is amazing, really appreciate it and just subbed

No sassy end of video quip?! I feel so abandoned. Excellent content as always!

What a wonderful garden.. Proud of you man and very love the way you explain about soil..👏👏

Thank you for your passionate, practical and cool share . Keep on! I am glad to hear you , being a nerd ( - scientific ) and sustainable " set&forget" style. MaBuhay ka!

Actually, we use sunlight for more than vitamin D. Infrared light helps our blood pump... More than our heart does. The heart kinda keeps the blood going the right direction and keeps us alive in the dark. It's also how veins work in a tree to get water into leaves 100 feet In the air. Infrared light also donates electrons from it's photons directly to our mitochondria, so we do get energy from it directly. But photosynthesis is not enough energy because we're always moving around and stuff and we use more energy than a plant does per inch of surface area.

Haha oh man that overhead drone shot of your gardens not being square to each other gave me anxiety. Haha clearly it doesn’t matter just found it funny. Love your content!

Looks like it’s working amazingly well! I was impressed by the tilth improvement done by Sudan grass cover crop in hawaii. #savesoil

Awesome tips. Thank you for sharing all this method and all this information .. inspire me to learn more about the garden👌🌱👍🍓🍅

You speak so well. You obviously have a deep interest and experiential understanding of the subject. Imagine if you lived for 400 years and could do all the Phd's you want to do! Keep up the awesomeness

I thinking getting a really strong grasp of traditional soil chemitsty is hugely useful as a baseline from which you can then diverge as it makes sense. Biologically driven management is the future, but its also not well researched enough to be consistently useful. Understanding the universal soil chemistry and maybe the top ways mineral nutrients interface with biology sets you up to conceptually understand what you are shifting when you do biological interventions. Soil chemistry tests are have not been correlated and calibrated to small-farm systems and crops (for the most part), so making application recommendations from them is sort of dicy

Well, that was informative. Someone does a bunch of homework, talks to folks and learns a bunch. I don't actually garden though I suppose I should learn things first. Good stuff, thanks.

I'm a clueless newbie and this is a great video! Subscribed.

Lol! Beer is essential, within reason of course, just like anything, especially for decision making and figuring things out. I recently went through balancing nutrients in my beds because I had many pepper seedlings in one bed that were stunted and pale. They had nitrogen, magnesium, potassium, and many micronutrients...but they were apparently lacking calcium, because I added oyster shell, and they are looking MUCH better now.