Back to Eden success

As many if you know, I bought this place a year ago and started my garden on dry white sand. But I have been adamant about adding as much organic material as I could find to make this beach sand a little more garden friendly.

After the garden was tilled and established I started mulching with free wood chips and rabbit manure. When the plants were done at the end of summer I added 4 inches of grass clippings, another 8 inches of wood chips and a few wheel barrow of manure from the rabbits and chickens. Then just last month I found the wood chips were getting thin again and had to add more. As Paul says, at first the soil is hungry. Now here are the results of all that work





hoping for a successful growing season this time around!

What a difference a year makes? It looks great! I'd love to see that same soil after the new layers of organic materials had time to break down.

I can't wait to see what it looks like next year!

We just bought our place a year ago too. We started with much better soil than you did (as evidenced by the thigh high weeds and grass when I was gone for two weeks.) I've been following your thread since you started, and am really glad you posted this. I just started adding leaves and ground cover to my garden (first time).

so far it's just a couple inches thick. I'm hoping over time it will get much deeper

Next spring will be my 4th year on beach sand, same as you. The first year, I planted and everything died. We mulched the garden that fall with pine shavings from a horse event center and put 3 pigs in it in October. Took them to slaughter in March and ran the disc around in the garden. Year 2 was a little better. Half didn't come up, the half that did come up, half of that died. What was left produced like gang busters. This past season, we mulched deep with wood chips and have a mountain of chips in a big pile, ready to be used. Year 3 was the best yet, can't wait for year 4.

Your garden is looking awesome. What rich black soil you are making! It can only get better and better! I am glad that your garden is doing so well for you! Homegrown is just so darn good!

I am going to try artichokes, fennel, and something else I can't remember right now. Ummm.... I think it's kolrabi.

baymule said:

Next spring will be my 4th year on beach sand, same as you. The first year, I planted and everything died. We mulched the garden that fall with pine shavings from a horse event center and put 3 pigs in it in October. Took them to slaughter in March and ran the disc around in the garden. Year 2 was a little better. Half didn't come up, the half that did come up, half of that died. What was left produced like gang busters. This past season, we mulched deep with wood chips and have a mountain of chips in a big pile, ready to be used. Year 3 was the best yet, can't wait for year 4.

Your garden is looking awesome. What rich black soil you are making! It can only get better and better! I am glad that your garden is doing so well for you! Homegrown is just so darn good!

I am going to try artichokes, fennel, and something else I can't remember right now. Ummm.... I think it's kolrabi.

Click to expand...

I'm just hoping to get the tomatoes trellised and producing this year

I trellis mine with cowpanels set 18-20" apart. I compost the soil, cover with cardboard, or paper feed sacks, then mulch on top of that. I cut a hole in the cardboard, did down, spoon in Epsom salt and bone meal, plant the tomato plant. They did well for me for the 2017 garden.

My soil went from grey hard pan clay to black crumbly topsoil in 5 mo. of using the wood chips...each season I add more mulch of some kind on top of that soil, it will turn into more topsoil. No more tilling here ever.

In May of the first year...and this is soil that had been tilled 5 times, then rained on a couple of times, which returned it back to hard pan. I had to stand on that fork to even get this deep....





After, in Oct. of the same year...weeds pulled up easily and had dark soil clinging to their roots. I'd never seen such soil as that on this land.


Chickens helping with garden clean up...note the black, crumbly soil right under the chips...


Now the soil looks like this where it's the most compacted by the truck when we drive into the garden...this was scratched up with minimal ease using the blunt nose of my wire cutter pliers. I could have done the same with my fingers, it came up that easily. I could prepare a seed bed in this with just the use of my hands if need be.



Now I'm switching to hay and expect a much quicker turn around on mulch to soil, with each year getting more and more rich and loose.

I'd say the BTE had the desired result of building top soil on my hard pan, quickly and with a good measure of success. It hasn't been without its drawbacks, some of which is why I'm switching to hay now.

Beekissed said:

My soil went from grey hard pan clay to black crumbly topsoil in 5 mo. of using the wood chips...each season I add more mulch of some kind on top of that soil, it will turn into more topsoil. No more tilling here ever.

In May of the first year...and this is soil that had been tilled 5 times, then rained on a couple of times, which returned it back to hard pan. I had to stand on that fork to even get this deep....

View attachment 5478

View attachment 5479

After, in Oct. of the same year...weeds pulled up easily and had dark soil clinging to their roots. I'd never seen such soil as that on this land.

View attachment 5481
Chickens helping with garden clean up...note the black, crumbly soil right under the chips...
View attachment 5480

Now the soil looks like this where it's the most compacted by the truck when we drive into the garden...this was scratched up with minimal ease using the blunt nose of my wire cutter pliers. I could have done the same with my fingers, it came up that easily. I could prepare a seed bed in this with just the use of my hands if need be.

View attachment 5482

Now I'm switching to hay and expect a much quicker turn around on mulch to soil, with each year getting more and more rich and loose.

I'd say the BTE had the desired result of building top soil on my hard pan, quickly and with a good measure of success. It hasn't been without its drawbacks, some of which is why I'm switching to hay now.

Click to expand...

That's a success story for sure!