My homeschooled son was motivated by your channel to do home gardening. He got addicted to this stuff and he does not spend much time on video games. Thank you!

Man you are awesome. You inspired me to start a food forest. Two years ago I planted pecan trees and pear trees. And I thought I was done. Now I have 26 fruit trees and I’m learning about interplanting. I started my food forest. I drive 30 minutes to shovel free mulch into my truck too. I’ve been doing it all week. No matter how hard, it doesn’t feel like work. Anything for my garden is not work. It’s love. Even if my back hurts. Anyway man thank you so much for all of your videos

I thought I was the only one who said "I don't want a lawn", "a lawn isn't going to feed you"

I watched this video two years ago when I lived in an apartment and now that we have a house I can do this! I can’t wait. This Dude is on point!

Hi James, i'm french living in France. I bought a house in june and the backyard was a poor lawn over a granitic soil. The local waste collection is giving away the kind of wood chips you showed us. Only it is finer and blacker because it is a bit more decomposed. So, i covered my lawn with it, i transported i don't know how many trailer loads and covered it with a layer of horse manure. People here think i'm crazy. I have planted pear trees and apple trees and plum trees and blueberries, and a walnut tree.

Gardening is my sanity. Other people don't get it. They think it is a chore.

In 2019 I tore out my grass and brought in 5 tons of tree mulch that was delivered right to my house (neighbors weren’t too happy😬). The mulch was laid thick (about 12 inches) around my rows and paths and I no longer have weed issues, no bug issues and see the hummus you showed. It totally transformed our yard into a beautiful space where I can grow nearly everywhere now. I highly recommend it. Be thankful and just do the work! You won’t regret it.

I hope you know how much you teach and inspire all of us. I am starting my first raised garden because of you and Tuck. Thanks again.

This dude is a straight G. G for Gardener. Appreciate the info, dude.

New subscriber, love your videos. I am a mycologist/biologist but have studied plants for the past 6 years, and I also find a ton of the educators are pushing false information, not just in gardening but in numerous fields. Nature has done it the way you described for millions of years with 100% success, the soil builds itself, the nutrients come naturally, the soil retains moisture, you invite hundreds of species of beneficial fungi and bacteria to your garden.

I appreciate all the information. I am 33, planting my first garden and teaching myself over here so my kids will be wise! Thank You for all your help along the way!

I'm showing this to anyone who asks about wood chips - even my students when we learn about soil in grade 7 science in Alberta. We are starting a food forest, and are on our way to getting something like your garden, just in zone 3!

James - You have inspired me to great things. I grew up outside Detroit and we gardened from Memorial to Labor Day. Now I live outside Charlotte, NC and the heat is killer. My tomatoes struggle because they get too dried out - it is too hard to keep up with the watering. Sometimes the tomatoes literally cook on the plants. Also, I'm 60 and don't have the energy that I had when I was 30. So...wood chips. Free from tree cutters in my subdivision. I'm growing cucumbers, melons, tomatoes, flowers, strawberries, apples, pears and persimmons - and it has never been easier. The first year I mixed them in - what a mistake! Now I know to layer on top - and I have the most beautiful and productive garden of my life. Thank you for your encouragement. You have been the best garden coach I have ever had. My parents and grandparents did not even know how to garden in wood chips. They taught me what they knew - but now I know better. If you ever get to Charlotte, NC - come see me and my garden. Tell Tuck I said "hi". Ann Harlan, Matthews, NC annharlan@hotmail.com

We built a house on a 2 acre lot two years ago. When the trees we had taken down were chipped we spread a thick layer over the area to get rid of the mud and tire ruts from the builders equipment. This week I was putting in some shrubs and I was amazed to find long healthy worms in every shovelful I dug up. The soil seems rich and dark and hold moisture. We just had another load of chipped wood brought in and are using it on dryer areas of the land. It also make a great ground cover for a woodland type of garden. Thanks for this video.

Just want to say thank you so your advice because I did contact a local Tree Service and I got wood mulch for free

I had wood chips in the backyard. It takes about three years to break down 👍

I long to have a garden of my own someday...my heart aches for it... seeing your garden and learning how you do your soil is the closest thing I get to the real thing, and it gives me hope. Thanks for sharing the information.

You have inspired me to start a food forest! Great job from Nigeria 🇳🇬

Hey Mr. James, I've found this old video, and I am so grateful to you for teaching, and encouraging me to garden and grow my own food forest. Blessings always. ♡

Just signed up for ChipDrop and marked where I want the Pile. Now I am going to wait. I plan to make one row of a no dig garden with my old piles of compost. The wood chips I am going to put everywhere I had bare soil.

I had just started growing a few herbs in my yard and then wanted to know more about house plants so I'm researching I stumbled upon you and this channel is changing my life. Im binge watching your progress. You are such an inspiration man.

i'm surprised nobody talks about how destructive bare soil can be, i've heard of peope getting spotty germination because of topsoil drying, but It's silly because instead of watering more they should be protecting the sensitive microbes from uv

Hi James, I am in New Hampshire. I just had a crew remove two monster pine trees from my back yard that were scaring me every day. I am smiling so much to go out to tend my goats and ducks and chickens without that feeling of impending doom over my head. I have two mountains of pine wood chips and seven big logs now. I think they are a great air freshener, besides all their other uses. Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for the great advice and encouragement.

Greetings from southeast Texas. I put wood chips on the ground around my trees and on paths, also covering my raised beds. Vegetables are growing so well and taste delicious...dirt is rich black, nutrient dense. Wood chips are amazing!

Thanks for the myth-busting bro. Much appreciated. Keep up the great work. You're helping to inspire a generation of gardeners who need this kind of candid exposé to clearly see the good, the bad, and the ugly of modern gardening practices.

Good job, you opened my mind to something that we all forgot. Centuries ago when humans started cultivating the earth it was done one way, the old natural way and us humans need to revisit that. We have gotten lazy and spoiled, not to mention brainwashed by big business and marketing. We are not doing things for ourselves anymore and we're not benefiting.

You always make the best and most valuable content. You motivated me to start my food forest project 3 years ago, and here I am still watching your channel to grow and learn. I love it! Keep on making great content!

Brilliant James. I live in Australia and I am following your example. It makes so much good sense. I really enjoy your channel. Thank you so much for the great information you are sharing with us. Keep up the good work

Your videos have a strong habit of invoking within me an intense desire to conquer a garden as beautiful and unflagging as yours!

Great work. A small tip to make your work load less. line your truck bed with a tarp and load the chips into it. the you can back up to were you want them and just pull the whole tarp out and rake them into place. you could maybe do a couple of tarps and be able to pull a wheelbarrow load at a time. Love your channel, keep up the good work.

Hi James and Tuck . I hope you are doing well. Thank you for this beautiful and useful video . You are a true leader!! Thank you for your continued effort.

James i like you speaking out addressing wrong information that's out there concerning gardening.. You Go and Tuck is right there with you ..❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Beautiful explanation, thank you! I just started experimenting with wood mulch last summer-I'm so pleased with the results I'm slowing incorporating them into several different areas of my yard (my husband isn't on board with a food forest-yet!). This video was VERY helpful for me--it gave me great direction for my next collection of wood chips (I live on the border of two cities, both of which have MOUNDS of free wood mulch for the taking. Now I know which part of the mound to look for!). Can't wait for your newest videos coming out this spring and summer!

I've been in the tree business for about 3 years I have had wood chips on my property for 3 years I have never seen a Termite in any pile of wood ships it's really ridiculous. I agree with absolutely everything you have said in this video and there's evidence to prove it thank you so much for caring And what you do I'm learning so much. Really great to see somebody He works hard for himself in his family How much enjoy you get out of it and encourages me. GOD bless

Awww you have two of them!! They’re adorable. I love your relationship with them. Thanks for sharing them and all your gardening knowledge!!

We love your passion and you're a great advocate for permaculture. I garden in a small garden on an Irish hillside. I love it and, like yours, my fur friends love it too. Great job and TFS.

Brilliant and so helpful, going to pick up my first wood chip load this week and begin a permaculture garden here in the UK

Wow! Love this video! Who knew I would get so interested in all this at this late stage of life. So fun! Keep on with teaching us how to be natural and producing great food! Grandma D.

Look how far you have come since making this video! Both your channel and your garden have grown immensely. Way to go dude!

I really appreciated the music lyrics in this video! Such a sweet and loving person! Keep GROWING!!!!! I know you see this! THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! I LOVE wood chips!

Im in college now. Stress is getting 2 me but my hopes of one day owning my own food forest is one the few things keeping me going!

What a beautiful video in so many ways! I have been sold on the idea of using woodchips as part of my new permaculture garden and yard orchard. I contacted a tree service, asking for woodchips, and he told me they could deliver in the spring but that i was welcome to get from the piles behind his business. When i got there only 2 minutes from my home, i found large piles of mostly very dark decomposed compost with some wood pieces in it. It looks similar to what is sold as compost. I have gotten six loads of approximately 700 pounds each in my Pathfinder by filling plastic bags and large buckets and stacking in my vehicle. There is another location where i've gotten two large loads of a mix of chopped up grass, leaves, and pecans/shells. It's partially composted. Now i have three permaculture beds resting until spring, and have many small fruit trees planted in the yard, and rooting in the house. Someone sent me nearly forty fig cuttings and i am also starting pear, plum and apple cuttings. Pawpaw and other trees are on the way. I also realized that my land extends way beyond a cliff/slope off the back yard area and there are trees and stream down below. If i install stairs, path, and a few more stairs, all that land could be turned into a beautiful food forest also, instead of basically being wasted. Thank you for your information, inspiration, and sharing your gardens with us. I love Tuck

I started my own backyard forest last year because of your inspiring and teaching videos. Thank you!

Best explanation I’ve found for permaculture. Now I know how to manipulate the variables to my needs for amending my soil.

Thanks, you answered a couple questions for us. 1. Can you compost pine needles & 2. Wood chips & termites.

I mulched my whole front yard a couple years ago. This year aside from more wood chips, I'm going to cultivate & introduce King Stropharia mushrooms to speed up the decomposition process.

Another great video. Thanks for addressing the common arguments against wood chips in the garden. You explained away each of those misunderstandings clearly. I appreciate the work you are doing and sharing with all of us. Thanks so much. ~Michele

I love that I found your channel! I just ordered a load from Chip Drop. So, I'm excited to continue building new growing areas on my land. Thanks James! God Bless you.

I till wood shavings and composed manure into my clay loam soil. This years garden is fantastic.

Great video. We put wood chips on half of our large garden last year and the results were incredible. We didn't have to water that area and weeding was easy. We were so impressed that we covered the entire garden in wood chips in preparation for next year's garden season.

Hi I am watching many videos but I recognize when it’s one of your videos it feels like a friend talking to me.thanks.

Hi James, I have encountered all the negative comments that you are speaking about each time I mention that I am going to grow a food forest on woodchips...so thank you for explaining but especially showing that it can be done...you are my inspiration ...love to you and Tuckie...

I’m so glad I finally found someone that thinks the same as I do about raking up leaves & then needing to buy Scott’s Turf builder in the spring! I’ve always thought that was stupid

I have to take my wood chips where I can get them, and sometimes I can only get wood and bark - whenever I bring in new wood chips I brew a compost tea, filter it and then apply it to the new chips with a hose mixer sprayer to inoculate them with all of the beneficial microbes and help them to start breaking down faster

Watched three videos and have to say that I am looking forward to many more. Your work is excellent! Educational, real, and fun. Thank you. A definite go-to...!

Thank you my friend for another excellent watch. Really enjoying your videos as I plan and building my own hugelkultur raised beds and permaculture garden.

Bro, love you so much. You've really inspired us. Infinite appreciation!

I love your show! All this time I've been mixing it in to the soil, thanks for the tip!

Hi, I have been watching all your videos trying to learn all I can and teach my all my kids how to be self sufficient! I believe that you're teaching that..

First section of the food forest went in today! Excitement in the neighborhood! I have all winter to watch your videos . I’ll select fruit trees, berries, and more. I’m psyched. Thank you for making this simply, uncomplicated!

James excellent presentation and narrative sir .God bless you for sharing this information and setting the record straight !I love what wood chips are doing to my lil Back To Eden project on my property .

Thank you so much for this video I've been getting wood chips from my local dump too but I was always composting them to use in my raised beds. Never wanted to use wood chip much because of the termite scare but this video was very helpful I have termites in my yard without the wood chips so like you said it's not the wood chips that attract the termites it's cool damp materials!! Love watching your videos!! God bless

Thank You for the great videos. I am in the second year of using homemade compost which I have kept free of diseased vegetable matter and screen it when it is ready. After I remedied my PH problems my plants are happy and last year I had a bumper crop of 30 tomatoes (previous endeavors netted me 3 or 4). Thanks to your valuable information videos, I am an informed gardener and feel more confident. I strive to grow without chemicals and factory farm ingredients. Just because it says organic it probably isn't. I read labels now.

Cool video. Im from Nj, live in Southern Cal now. It makes perfectly good sense what your saying and how you present it. I’m a beginner gardener and learning the ropes... Tuck is an awesome pup... 🤙

Here's a thing I've noticed since I started applying woodchips 1.5 years ago. When it rains, I don't see any worms come out of the soil anymore. They used to come out by the tons. Someone told me they came out to mate. I suspect they came out cause they were drowning in compacted soil. They'd crawl out by the thousands, dry out or get stepped on on the unforgiving cement. Never see that anymore since they have the cover of woodchip mulch.

Hi James, I was in two minds whether to wood chip mulch or not, but after watching your video I'm in no doubt what to do. Love your videos. Keep up the good work. From down under Australia.

I just signed up for chipdrop, will keep you informed of it, I'm in NE Ohio thanks for letting us know about the service. Love your videos, they help me learn and think. Every time I watch a video, I talk to my husband about it and we end up having awesome conversations about how this goes right along with what the Bible says, we were meant to be gardening and growing our own food!! and it encourages us to get outside and do something!! God bless you!

The Gardening guy. Thank you thank you thank you very much. I had a big pile of woodchips in my yard for 2years and thought I couldn't do anything with it. I know now because of you. God bless

First let me say that I love using wood chips. Having said this I am also an exterminator and have owned my own exterminating company for about 13 years. I also practices vermacomposting as well, and see all the benefits of most garden insect go figure. The truth is that termites are a blind and social insect, when a new colony starts they spiral out from the point of the new colonies origin looking for cellulose in the soil. I know that they in fact can detect compost in and on the soil from my own testing of various termite bait station baits and attractants. Having said this termites are an extremely beneficial insect over all because of how they beak down wood of all kinds. So if you don't have a lot of space between your home and your wood chip garden I wood recommend not worrying about it. If is close to the home there is also nothing to really worry about if you have an organic/green termite baiting solution and there are several to choose from. Fun fact about termites is they are the largest producer of carbon monoxide in the world over. Cows are #2 no pun intended. Be Blessed

James, I learned a lot in this video. Thanks for the education! (BTW, my grandma lived in Long Branch, and I looked forward to visiting the beach in the summer about 60-some years ago.) I plan to "go easy" on the gardening work by layering and not tilling. The more I learn about this, the more sense it makes. Free stuff also makes sense on a fixed income :)

Been watching alot of your content, bought a rural home on 3 acres a few years ago, this spring we are planting our 5000 sq foot food forest, thanks for all ur information you share

💖💖💖 James and Tuck Thank you for being a good guy and bringing the world joy and hope!

Good deal, I had 2 loads of free chips delivered from the tree trimming company in the late spring and I am letting them sit for a year before using them in the garden. The piles were full of new green leafs and the piles were very warm for a few weeks. I also use a lawn vacuum attached to the mower and in the fall I mulch up all the leafs and add them to the compost pile in the woods,

You are a plethora of information. 🌞 Love all that info !! 🌲 THANKYOU !! 🌿

You have inspired so many people just like me. Please keep it going. You amaze me with the knowledge and precision in your hard work of your gardening and informing us the correct way. Thank you. Many blessings to you my friend. Thank you thank you thank you. 🥰🥰🥰🥰

Love your channel! I moved from New Jersey a couple of months ago to Kentucky. I lived in New Jersey for 30 years, and of those 30 years used cedar wood chips in every flower and garden bed. Loved it. Never had a termite, it deterred insects and bugs it stayed dry and it looked beautiful and the plants were happy and healthy. It cost a bunch in individual bags and less if a load was dropped on the driveway. Keep up the good work. I appreciate the knowledge you so generously offered. I

This was great. I know the amazing soil wood chips produce as once I made a huge shade garden for my parents and after returning much later I found the riches soil that yard ha ever experienced! You put it very well. Everything you said explained the process so well and was just reasonable common sense. Thank you for this video! I am SO glad to have found it.

So glad I found you--you really know what you're talking about! New sub!

That song though!!! Thank you for introducing it in your background. I never heard it before. Beautiful. Love it💖

You are truly an inspiration. Just bought 9.5 acres. My local tree service truck has dropped at least 10 small truck loads. Will be spreading soon. Can't wait. Thanks for all the info. Take care and God bless brother!

There’s a baby Tuck!!! Tell us about him/her. I’m really going to try wood chip gardening next year. Can’t start this year because of storage trailer in my yard. I’m really looking forward to it. Thanks, James for all these great videos.

I just use chips from tree removal companies needing a place to drop them...thanks for the inspiration about the food forest, now considering designing one for myself...great videos

So grateful for your channel! I've been telling people for years that their lawn won't feed them. Was grateful that recently (unfortunately though due to covid virus) people have become interested in gardening vs having s nice lawn.

Love the pace. Thx for not wasting my time. Lots of good info.

These are the best and most enjoyable videos I have seen on Facebook. I wish there were more trees in South Texas. I am still buying my mulch at Lowes.

I am replacing my grass with wood chips.. I live in Florida so i am in zone 9, with sandy soil.. however when I planted our avocados trees we used wood chips around the base with home made compost, well this year we got over 400 avocados from one tree alone! The hass avocado gave us about 200 and the butter avocado about 50, but the avocados were about 3 to 5 lbs each ! Bigger than a cantaloupe.. why our trees did so good in a sand soil? Because we used heavy wood chips and home made compost .. lots of love, so, yes, I am turning my small backyard into my own private forest. God bless

Soooooo glad I found your channel. I’m about to start mulching for winter and you have so changed my mind about wood chips. A big thank you and I love Tuck he’s so cute

You have such a love for this and your little friends 😎 thank you for caring and sharing ..again another gem you gave today

Well spoken ! ! Growing food is less work than maintaining a lawn ! !

Hey James! Here's a tip I use when I go get my woodchips: Lay a tarp down in your truck so when you get to the end of emptying your truck, you can just slide the remainders out and the bed stays pretty clean. Makes it easier in my opinion anyway. I just changed my KZfaq name bc I'm starting my own channel. It was previously XxJennRNxX. Maybe you recognize that name. Anyway, thanks for sharing Jenn Stone Seven Sprouts Farmstead GA

Greetings from Ohio. Thanks for sharing your green thumb with the rest of us. I learn something every video of yours I watch. I'll be starting a raised garden bed this weekend. Thanks again.

Thanks man. I enjoy your videos because you enjoy what you’re doing so much. It’s contagious. Keep up the good work!

Wow, best video I have seen yet. Iam new to planting and growing. Your video taught me a lot. And the music was absolutely beautiful. I have a home now for the first time in 56 yrs. I want to plant a garden my own garden. I noticed that my soil is pretty much 100% clay. So I'm looking for tips and how to grow in my type of soil. Your video was amazing and you look like a pretty amazing person as well. Thank you for your time your knowledge and your heart centered truth.

Great stuff man, love your passion simplicity and honesty. Do you have any videos showing how you prepare and plant your forest, trees veggies etc.?

No matter how experienced or novice it is always important to explain arobic and anarobic. I noticed you pointed that out in this video and some of the others assume that people know these things. Good Man, good thinking !!!!

love your channel James, I live here in Louisiana and we just went through several hurricanes. I was bless that I was able to get the tree company come for free and dump nearly 800 cu yds of wood chips mixed with leaves on my property. Thanks again for your channel.

Great information I learned a lot,your an awesome speaker. thank you!

"A lawn's not gonna feed you" that's mine now. 😉

Excellent excellent excellent! I'm rehabbing my first house in PA and you really inspired me to do a lot of this stuff myself rather than pay someone to do it. Bravo dude!!!

Truly enjoyed this video. Converting from conventional gardening to a more regenerative concept. Ordered my first load of wood chips a few days ago. Excited to get started. Keep up the good work.