Back to eden end of season thoughts

[baymule]

I have a chicken coop in the garden, been letting them loose in it daily now. Last fall, hawks showed up and I had to keep them cooped. Then the hawk family built a nest on the fence line, had to keep all the chickens up. The hawks sure cut down on the rabbits though, they were getting out of hand.

How long have you had your garden? Everything you do only makes it better, so keep up the good work.

 

[Mini Horses]

CC, that worked for my grandparents -- except the horse or mule sometimes added some free fertilizer and their tiller was a few hoes, rakes and some of the kids handling them.

If your soil is good, not an issue, IMO to till it. I plan to disc mine a few times!! Very soon, to cut up some grasses, again to do same, then spread manure, lime (whatever needed) and seed clover for cover crop, let animals devour it early Spring and then till it in....probably a couple times before planting.

I am not hauling wood chips, sorry. Not enough hrs in the day. I can run a tiller in amount of time it takes to chip.

Well, maybe. We will see because that's what I plan to do.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Interesting observations!

 

[wyoDreamer]

My neighbor gets all the woodchips from the electric company whenever they are in the area doing tree trimming work. They let them stand in a pile for a year or so before using them as mulch in all their garden beds. Their experience the first year, where they used the chips right away was a lesson they will never forget. According to them, the chips were infected with stinkhorn mushroom spores and the smell made them dig out all the mulch and spread it on the far side of the field.

@Chic Rustler Are you going to try some variation on Back -to-Eden gardening next year? or try something different?

 

[Chic Rustler]

Don't forget the cardboard! Under the chips, I lay down cardboard to smother out the weeds. As you can see in my fall clean up picture on my 2018 garden thread, I didn't have enough cardboard. LOL LOL LOL

We so too. And they arr thick boxes from water heaters and central heat and air units (i get the from work)

Still gotta fight the grass . Its one of those things that gets easier over time i think

 

[Chic Rustler]

My neighbor gets all the woodchips from the electric company whenever they are in the area doing tree trimming work. They let them stand in a pile for a year or so before using them as mulch in all their garden beds. Their experience the first year, where they used the chips right away was a lesson they will never forget. According to them, the chips were infected with stinkhorn mushroom spores and the smell made them dig out all the mulch and spread it on the far side of the field.

@Chic Rustler Are you going to try some variation on Back -to-Eden gardening next year? or try something different?

In my orchard its pure bte all the way. But in my garden im toying with the idea of tilling it and planting cover crops this winter and then tilling them in before remulching again. We have 4 inches (not exaggerating) of good black stuff under the chips in the garden. Id like it to be deeper.


But idk. I may be lazy and just pile on another foot of woodchips, spread a bucket of urea over it and let it sit all winter.

 

[Chic Rustler]

Ive been breaking the "rules" in my garden the whole time anyhow.
Our best results for seed germination are when i rake back the chios and hoe it up really good before sowing. Then after the plants get established i remulch with woodchips and rabbit manure.

Ive also been trench composting in the garden as well. But stuff that people wouldnt usually bury there. Slaughter waste, giant fish, sometimes whole chickens if we have a loss. So that kinda breaks the no dig rule too.

 

[baymule]

But that adds to the fertility of your garden, it's your garden, so why not?

 

[Chic Rustler]

But that adds to the fertility of your garden, it's your garden, so why not?

Thats what i figured. We will se how next year looks when im growing vegetables on top of those giant carp and gar.

 

[Chic Rustler]

So we have been throwing things on the garxen since the close of the season for us. Lots of used coffee grounds, chop and drop, food scraps for the chickens, oh yeah we turned the chickens on it too! Our eggs are awesome!, and now 10 gallons of wood ash. This year we had a potassium deficiency with the tomatoes. So i figure we will work on that too.