I live in a country where bags of soil are mainly peat based (a mix). My natural soil is fairly poor moraine with a thin organic top layer with low ph. In a few years this added peat based purchased soil becomes very dense and many plants don't like that. I've added some organic compost (not raw) and sand, and amended for ph per plant requirements, which has helped, but I still feel like I should do more. What? I need more air in the ground but its already planted and I can't dig it all up. Buy worms maybe?
@@player1..... It is a good starting spot. I’d shoot for more. I made raised beds of compost and had to get a lot of mineral soil in to make it useful.
@@marikal2341 You want more organic matter built up. Cover crops and mulch would be a benefit. If the spot can sit for a year I’d say wood chip and mushroom spawn.
@@GRPermie Thanks! You're right. I've built it up from nothing in 10 years without much help. The amount of compost hasn't kept up with that expansion. Instead of expanding, I should spend more time on reviving what I have. It's a great garden and a lot grows well or okayish but compacting soil is a problem.
I’m a lazy gardener. I add about 1-2” of compost (as fully composted as I can find) at the end of the season on top of my beds and let it sit over winter. I cover that up with something more carbatious like grass clippings, leaves, or whatever… I always have a huge bumper crop.
I have several 102-L totes that I use as a worm bin and I often end up having too much vermicompost. Sometimes, I use 100% compost as a substrate for my potted plants and it seems to work very well. My climbing pothos are now 7 ft tall with 24-inch leaves. But I do have chunky materials in the pots, mostly composed of egg shells, cherry stones, crushed chicken bones, avocado peels and apple stalks; essentially everything that the worms refuse to eat after several months. I don't know if I can say planting in 100% compost is always effective but my vermicompost with chunky bits definitely seems to work for me.
That's kind of what I do with my compost and potted figs & peppers. I might mix some degraded mulch, native soil or peat into it too. The compost I use is mostly mulched leaves with some other yard and kitchen waste mixed in. I compost in a pile and there's always lots of bugs in there, moreso rolly pollies and earwigs than worms but there are worms too. With the peppers I'm overwintering I notice there's still a lot of those rolly pollies and worms in the containers continuing to break things down with a lot of insect frass visible on the surface and holes. I wouldn't necessarily say the yields are higher from that medium (~30% compost) compared to things growing in my in-ground beds (1-2" of compost per year), but it does make for a lighter medium that holds water better, and I haven't found that blossom end rot or mildew was more of a problem in that compost rich soil than in-ground.
Grow potatoes or broccoli in all compost and get big leaves with no harvest. Compost is an additive to your garden soil that breaks it up, adds nutrients and helps hold water.
Completely agree on all points, I must say, I try to avoid disturbing established soils. My biggest agreement is from some worm casting samples I sent to the UW soil lab. I was comparing leaf bedding vs paper bedding. As it turned out, the leaf bedding had more phosphorous, potassium and micro nutrients, plus under the microscope there was a higher density and diversity of microbes. But this was just one sample, dose not mean the next batch of castings will contain the same nutrient levels. The same goes for home made compost and fertilizer teas. Have a great day! Stay Well!!!
Love that you brought up dropping the use of Dirt. In my soil sciences class over 20 years ago the professor made sure we understood we are not to refer to soil as Dirt. We call it min till here in Minnesota. Even farmers who practice No-Till are actually on the far end of Min-Till because the seed planter has trash wheels to till just the area of the row where the seed is dropped. About the only true no-till is the native prairies, except on could argue it is on the far end of Min-Till as the buffalo tilled the soil as they grazed the land.
Hey, maybe talk about IPM. It was taking off back when I was in college 20 years ago. My dad has defied the odds on the farm by raising a family on less than 500 acre crop and livestock farm. The neighbors were obsessed with having the cleanest fields. Dad was not bothered by havingclean fields. As one farmer said, how is it that your field has weeds, looks like s***, but you always have an unbelievable harvest. Dad's response was something to the effect of if you have a clean field that means you may be putting on too much herbicide that it is hurting your crop. He stressed the importance of ensuring of applying adequate nutrients and managing the weed competition. The goal is to have the crop outgrow the weeds. I had a wonderful crop of sweet corn this year on an area of the lawn that grew nothing but weeds. We tilled the soil thoroughly and I made sure to apply sufficient fertilizer, especially nitrogen. Pulled weeds once early on, but once the corn got going the weeds didn't have a chance and were stunted by mid season. Amazing as about the only thing that grew there reliably was crab grass. And no, I did not use any post emergence herbicides. I planted crimson clover as a cover crop and plan to grow sweetcorn and sunflower again this year. We plan to expand and tear up more of the lawn this year.
Thumbs up for the copper trend! I have a plot in a community garden, and many of the plots had the copper coiled "stakes" beside their plants this past summer (I'm in Canada as well.) My plants out produced theirs by quite a bit. I think people are looking for a simple, easy method to garden and the "influencers" aren't giving them the right information. As you stated, people need to research how to properly use gardening techniques such as this, not just watch a video where someone stuck a copper pole in the ground and it miraculously helped produce this amazing plant. Love the channel, keep up the good work!
As someone who just learned about No Dig and 100% compost gardening, I am saddened by your video haha. I would love to learn more and see what you think! Perhaps a future video topic? Have you ever done a full start to finish video exploring how you would put together a garden bed? I just put several Charles Dowding style no dig beds in my garden to replace raised beds, but the base I used was locally made triple mix, not 100% compost. I plan to add an inch or two of compost each year I guess but now I will have to look into it... Thanks for the excellent insights as usual!
You can't add too much homemade Compost, its basically food for the soil microbes. If you buy crap compost with added chemical nutrients then you could be in trouble but homemade compost is quite low in nutrients and they dont leach out.
Totally agree , if you are buying compost it isn't compost and you failed , most gardeners remove everything that would enrich soil naturally for superficial effect, failure
When I hear no till I literally think they want me to just poke seeds in with a chopstick. Thank you Ashley for clarifying low till. I tend to put on compost and do a low till in the spring.
All dirt on earth contains the nutrients plants need to grow. The problem is that those nutrients are not soluble for plants. Plants use energy from the sun to release exudates, which attract soil life to their roots. It is the soil life that eat those nutrients, and then poop them out into a soluble form for the plants. If you kill soil life, then you destroy the only thing that can break down nutrients for plants to consume (this is why covering soil and avoiding tilling is best). Compost is a method to rapidly breed soil life. Then you sprinkle that compost into your garden (covering it so the bacteria aren’t exposed to sunlight and die), and then those bacteria get to work eating nutrients and pooping them out for plants. Growing your plants in pure compost doesn’t make any sense because it’s a waste of compost, and your compost may not contain enough diversity of nutrients for your plants.
Good video , I seen many youtube videos where someone is pushing new techniques and usually their trying to sell something . Tried and proven techniques for me but I'm not so stuck in my ways NOT to listen to science. Thank you for this channel.
Composting can be tricky, but the cost of soil or the lack of truth of where it comes from can be equally tricky. Soil that has been over exposed to a broad spectrum of “cides” can really take down plants. I prefer to create my own beds from things I know and handle. I am also a great believer in the importance of diversity of component sizes in a garden bed.
As a general rule, it's great to take broad statements like "you shouldn't till your soil" with a grain of salt. It's like anything, where people get into a mindset and are convinced that it is 100% right in every situation, ignoring reality. It's a bit frustrating? sad? when you see other gardeners you respect jumping on bandwagons, knowing it'll just increase the zealots' certainty that they're right...... So it's very refreshing seeing people not afraid to take a different stance! Thanks Ashley. YT algorithm had you out of my feed for a bit there, but I'm glad you're back in it 😊
I'm a low till and a full on deep till girl too. Depends on where and at what stage my garden is in lol. Small amount of bagged compost, (I don't make my own), and alfalfa pellets have been working amazing for me!
Low till all the way. Chem fertilizer ONLY when needed. Dirt is dirt until organic matter is added to make it that microbes have the necessary food to make it alive. Ray Delbury Sussex County NJ USA
Its funny hearing you mention gravel is alive and can grow stuff, I know lots will disagree but it truly is I had strawberry runners take root amazing in gravel and even some gourd vines that there wasn't room for on my trellis go off into my gravel walkways and do good, plants can thrive in so much more than what people call "perfect soil"
Ok my friend. Cheers from the B.C. 50 years back I asked my old man what's with the wire strung all over the garden? After it was set up for 24 hours the soil seemed to contain more worms than the rest of the garden. Also, this works for rounding up garden hackles for fishing. Green the planet.
Hello Ashley listening. Well when plants get transplanted, a hole has to be dug. I try to let any biomass and compost time to fully decompose down. Take CaRe
We started really gardening in 2023, we got a lomi composter when it came out. We collected the output in a bucket outside At the end of the season we mixed a big batch of it with grass clipping and maple leaf & soil amenment - herbionik under a black tarp Really hoping for the best 🤞
No tilt got me to much compose and poor drainage problems. No more testing copper electrodes in my plans 2024. I got my tilted out turned over my garden gently compared to my past years. Blossoms end rot you feed your seedling and taught me its the cause of Blossoms end rot problems I wrote the no tilt ends before you mentioned it in this video, and I do broadfork ( I built myself mine) . Less tilt we can label it " Less tilt " Recommend catching rain water as good advice I've removed at least 20 wheel barrel loads of stones from my 50 square ft main garage in 7 season if not for tilting I would never had found my problem. Now I raise carrots anywhere Thanks Lady of science of Canada 🇨🇦
I got to calling soil "dirt" just to irk my prof's in college, they literally had a rule about calling it dirt, and I liked to push the envelope a little bit in a jokey way with them. Some of them took it well, some of them were starting to think of ways I wouldn't get to second year XD
When I went to cosmetology school all of our instructors would get upset if you called hair color hair dye.. lawyers have lawyer speak.. sometimes it feels like this language policing is just western chauvinism and class interest protecting its power.. done to signal to others that have had “proper” education from the establishment powers that be and a Leone to make everyday common people feel less than. Some people call it dirt.. as long as they are growing and getting their hands in there it really shouldn’t matter what people call it. Using it to insult “poor soil” is the real issue.. soil snobbery not the language of everyday people
Oooohhh not gonna lie, I'm convinced my backyard is currently dirt. Its currently rockscaped (not by us, we just bought the house) so the dir . . . Soil. Has been covered in landscape fabric and under a pretty thick layer of gravel for a couple years. I live in Colorado so dry as hell, not a lot of rain. I'll have to borrow a microscope and report back . . .
LOL glad to know I followed none of those trends. I low low till, mulch with very little compost, had no idea about copper and I have planted everywhere whether I call it dirt or soil I know it is alive. Can't wait to see what the 2024 trends are going to be and whether I ignore them lol.
Way back in university took a soil science course and one day someone in the class asked a question and refered to soil as 'dirt', that only happened once.
2 things: I love you throwing your opinions around while still approving of individual gardening techniques. 2) I want to start a new game where I get to drink or have a treat everytime you say "Etcetera and so forth". It makes me laugh everytime you say it.
I like your comment about being low till…. Never quite got the no till never really made sense to me! Low till is the way… as for the copper trend….. not sure where I’ve been but never heard of it! Thanks for once again clarifying things for people and giving measured/balanced views and advice to “trends”. Like in all things, never good to put all your eggs in the same basket and a little goes a long way! I know there’s an expression that’s a better fit but just can’t think of it at this time.
I think experimenting is important too. Always try something new on a small scale its just my experience the no till trend is very limited to who it works with.
I had to dig out one of my raised beds about 6 weeks ago. I also dug it down another 30cm. To refill it, I used about 10% heavy clay soil, 60% of the soil I dug out (with lots of roots from last years planting) and 30% finished compost. Hoping that's a good mix. It's also going to sit for at least a couple more months before I plant into it.
as i have come to understand in other areas of life extremism is not a good thing. moderation and adapting is what gardening is all about for me and those i know.
Ashley, last summer I got that white powdery thing on my potato leaves. It didn't seem to affect the potatoes, there were lots and they were healthy looking. I was wondering if the white stuff got into the soil and if I should do anything to the soil before planting my potatoes this coming spring ? I'll be using the same soil as I used last year, organic soil mixed with worm castings and a little chicken manure, and then some bone meal in the hole where I planted.
did it have alot of hyphea? or just flat almost dust like? I am assuming it was just powdery mildew. Don't reuse the mulch and avoid composting the plant debri. Next year consider using sulphur powder early in the season.
@@GardeningInCanada yes it was powdery mildew. I didn't compost the plants. Thanks for your reply. I will look for some sulphur powder and apply that early, thank you
I'm a big compost guy. Not planting in it but heavily amending with it, top dressing my planting beds and lawn with it. I mulch my lawn clippings and fall leaves. Rarely use synthetic fertilizer and never use any other chemical treatments. Little weeds now. Get it good quality compost from a soil yard not box store. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I use the term dirt basically interchangeably with soil. Examples include: the soil that I use in my backyard to grow my veggies is dirt, I took a dirt class at uni last semester, I make sure the dirt holding my potted plants is properly moistened. There's no such thing as a dead soil, but dirt is such a fun word to say and shouldn't be applied to things that don't exist
Check out my tomatoes they are no till, I used 3lbs of radish seeds in a small area and feed the radish foliar until it bolted in the spring and crimped it and planted tomatoes in a true no till in pure clay and my tomatoes grew 2ft per month. I did go light on the compost 2 inches. I'm lazy and will continue to not till and overplant seed.
So whats a good ratio compost to native clay soil to top soil? I make my own hot compost. Very diverse,leafs , toilet paper rolls,garden/kitchen waste, coffee grounds, even some burnt bones and biochar go into my compost. O and i even made my own LABS serum to help heat it back up after i got it too wet this winter. I left my tarp off on accident during a rainy week. I turn it every 5 days. So i would say its a good quality compost. Lots of worms have showed up to stay warm this winter lol
I hadn't heard about the copper trend. I saw a nasty greenhouse compost situation. It looked like an accident waiting to happen. I once visited a commercial strawberry garden that seemed to defy everything we knew about growing strawberries. The soil was straight gravel, no straw, the farm situated on a extremely high elevation of land south of Bethany in Ontario. The strawberries were superb, and this was at the end of the season. It still mystifies me.
I actually had strawberry runners take root really good in gravel this past season, its funny to think there is a strawberry farm out there that is just gravel for growing
Where I used to live, wild strawberries only grew on the edge of the gravel driveway. At my farm there are big patches all over the lawns, but they still love the gravel path to the barn, and the other rocky areas with little soil coverage. They are really tasty and get quite large for wild. I never gave it much thought until I saw your comment, but it is very interesting!
I'm in Newfoundland, and I know our summer is shorter then yours, but this is still very much helpful. I guess it is time to dig out my little indoor greenhouses. Lol.
great info.. im winter gardening ill have to start more up.... no supermarkets.. i barely have any compost ... so yes it's moderate... always great advice
Me too. A little shot of miracle grow in the spring as my soil is very alkaline and the rains wash away the nitrogen. Then a little cow manure when I transplant around the transplant and see how things shape-up. I also have a bucket of homemade tea fertilizer. I use a TBSP in a large watering can and add a little Sulphur, if the plants look like they could use a little something.
I don’t advocate going back to the 1950’s. I utilize a mix of both without any form of pesticides. If the bugs won’t let me grow something I give up on it. As someone else said it’s almost entirely the lack of nitrogen as I don’t have any poop to compost. All nitrogen is short lived in any form. And apparently the microbes can’t tell the difference between organic and synthetic nitrogen.
I dumped leftover liquid synthetic fertilizer in a 5-gallon bucket with hopes it would evaporate. It did not. After six months it remained at the same level in the bucket. What did happen, however, was that it separated, creating a 2-inch layer of petroleum on the surface. This is not something I want to use to grow my food. No hate; just saying. @GardeninginCanada
I am not using very much compost this year. Mostly because I can't find it for a cheap enough price where I live. And I found out and tested my garden. Very alkaline. Probably from too much compost in the past. And now I just realized my seedlings are stunted because they were potted up with just compost. I will change that today. Gardening is all about learning.
Having only watched a third of this video, I get the silliness of using pure compost in the garden. I'm wondering what your end of video rec will be. Mix in a 2-3 inch layer of compost with the soil then run a pH/NPK/Ca/Mg test? I can't wait to fin out... I love your videos, mind, AND your red hair! :) More Q's to follow, I'm sure.
Nothing. It’s more a commentary on the wild versions of CD people come up with, it definitely has a purpose for some soil types just not all some might argue
In my experience, it ALL depends on soil type. Where I live in Northern Canada, I had no choice but to till to get growing conditions to its optimal state. My native soil is full of clay and is so incredibly hard-packed it was like moving chunks of cement. There was no way anything but goldenrod, horsetail and thistle would thrive. And if I wanted to plant an apple tree... how am I going to do that without tilling or digging? Some "no-diggers" are just nuts.
I garden in table height raised beds similar to the corrugated steel Birdies beds. The bottom half is filled with old logs and yard debris. Then well-rotted cow manure that was blended with peat moss to lighten the mix. Each year, I top dress with 1-2 inches of my own compost, which includes a very small amount of local (Alberta) heavy clay soil for improved nutrient retention and moisture control. I'm growing in straight compost at this point. I also mulch the beds with a mixture of grass, leaves and chopped straw. I stick with all-natural fertilizers too (blood, bone, fish, JADAM/weed tea). I typically see large yields, both leafy greens and root veg. Peppers and tomatoes don't do quite as well in this setup, but interestingly, I got explosive growth for these in the initial year when it was just the composted cow manure.
Love this! Everything in moderation! Overusing compost is just like overusing synthetic ferilizers. Excesses leach out and pollute waterways and contibute to algal blooms. I think people think that since compost is natural, it must be good for the environment and you can use as much as you want...
I only grow in containers, so....no-till ? Lol i really need to buy a broad fork because my yard is way too wet all the time , too much clay but for now i can't justify the expense to use just a few times.
Compost should be used as a soil/medium AMENDMENT; inocculant (soil biome) and fertiliser (decayed plant and insect material). Compost is an excellent soil amendment btw.
Thanks. Most you tube garden channels use content on Compost, Dirt, No Till, Copper to offer their affiliate link to sell stuff....My editorial comment on Copper: I am waiting for Copper and harmonic conversion videos along with gardening barefoot....
I have a bed that was made with a couple loads of compost. It went well until it did not go so well... now I realize more doesnt mean more 😅. How should I ammend? Im thinking of tilling in some sand, maybe some peat.... any recommendations?
There are some plants I might plant directly in pure compost every year. But not all plants. Idk. I just think some types of plants are able to handle it better and even do really well. But I'm also making my own compost.
@@GardeningInCanada I do have one 12” metal raised bed. The other one is a 6” raised mound on the ground. Would I love a 3’ raised bed? You betcha! But I already have $500 tomatoes from listening to other YT channels and buying all that fertilizing kind of stuff. 😂😂 Hubby would have a fit.
You start the growing medium with peat, compost, and perlite/vermiculite. Then amend with compost as a fertilizer. I’ve always had great crops this way.
I had zero idea an all compost bed would be so bad, thank you so much for posting this. About to set up new beds this week as the crappy neighbour has left me alone long enough to get back in my garden and I've ordered so much compost, I'll go order some blimin soil too 😅🙈. I thought I was upping my game not giving myself a hinderence!
I don't know where your garden is situated but if you have a bad neighbor due to lack of privacy (like I did) grow food on trellises to block the view and increase your yield. I grew some Waltham squash (deeelicious) that have huge gorgeous leaves right up to Fall, however they do take up a lot of space. Hope things work out.
@@Fred.pSonic I'm actually doing exactly this ATM! We share a path that goes through the side of my garden so I ordered a few 3.2m raised beds and 6ft rebar and 12m of wire mesh. Lol. Lots of peas and beans germinating ready to fill it up in a few weeks or so. I'll be creating a firm wall between us both, and I'm also getting the greenhouse/poly tunnel up so far less space for him to come give me grief.
No till only works if someone already tilled the area for you haha. I have sticky clay. It’s so non porous that water sheers off of it. I had to build raised beds because it rains a lot here and my beds would have just washed away on top of clay. You can try and amend clay over many many years with no till. But I wanted a garden right away so went with raised beds.
How do I get more mineral soil? I have 2-3 beds that are too much organic matter (peat and compost) and not enough mineral soil, as I just loaded the organics on top of cardboard. It does not aggregate at all, and I know (now) that it's not ideal. How can I amend this situation? I kind of thought the worms would do it, but maybe not???
I don’t know Richard Perkins, but Charles Dowding still plants in soil, but layers compost on top of the soil. His soil has been amended greatly due to this. He also does dig vs no dig experiments. However, I don’t know what type of soil he is working on. My soil is alkaline and chalky, fine in winter, doesn’t get water logged, but compacts and dries out solid. Sort of like dried out pottery clay that has not been fired. I haven’t ‘tilled’ most of my beds this past year and I noticed no till was not going to work for me. I’m going to use a fork to break up the soil a bit this year before planting.
I don't think so, hes putting down cardboard and at least 10cm (4inch) of compost on top of that. So he plants directly in "all compost" . Am i completely missing the point here what is meant by "all compost" beds? I don't think anyone is digging half meter deep craters and filling them with compost, or do they? @@louise2209
I have this funny feeling european definition for compost is different then the north americans. Also Charles plant roots are hitting mineral soil, they wont perch themselves at the cardboard soil interface.
What about compacted soil that is saturated with salt ? In urban areas, often salt buckets or snow melt bins have huge spillage on nearby soil and killing plants nearby. Can you give solutions to reclaim the soil's viability in those areas? Thank you.
Look up remediation of saline-sodic soils. There's both biological and chemical remediation. Because the issue is mostly a sodium (Na) here, use gypsum or some elemental sulfur. The idea is to replace Na with Ca from the gypsum. If your soil has some good amount of calcium carbonate, the elemental sulfur will become an acid that'll break the carbonate. Chemically getting the Na out of the exchange sites will help you plant at least some cover crops to accelerate and retain some water to avoid it sleeting off.
I've always been skeptical of anything that claims to provide instant success ...."this one wierd trick" is usually an attempt to sell you something. I actually hadn't heard much about the copper trend - what I'd heard made sense in a controlled environment, but not in a typical garden. Anyway guess I'll keep to my 'everthing in moderation' and 'limit harm' mode of gardening. It seems to work well enough. Thank you.
Hi I'm planting in 5 litre buckets using perlite coir and mushroom compost. 25% 25% 50% mix. My tomatoes have bloosm end rot. I was travelling 14 days and they didn't get water but I filled the self wicking reservoir. Any advice if my mix is off or was it lack of water.
Here in SoCal zone 10a, I have "fill soil" in my backyard where formerly there was an inground pool. Subsequently the soil is quite variable but I'd guess it would be mostly classified as sandy clay, there are areas that are VERY rocky, should I attempt to sift out the rocks to a depth of a few inches or try to amend with the rocks in place? Currently using raised beds and grow bags for vegetables and flowers but would like to plant in ground as well. Any advice will be appreciated.
Yeah the no til... didnt till nothing grew until i tilled and added compost. I concluded it was because we didn't buy bagged crap "black soil" this year or anything who is bagged. Might be wrong. I tilled my whole garden in the fall and covered it all with leaves
My no till strawberry bed didnt do so well this year. I believe the issue was i didnt use perlite or vermiculite on the mix. I believe i used little perlite with city compost and peat moss.. tried to remive some of the clay soil i had in it originally. Strawberries produced only if i kept feeding nitrogen otherwise they make new leaves that turned brown at crown level. Strawberries were watery like store bough. Would it be a good idea to do this spring but earlier when they sleeping dig all the plants off and put vermiculite and perlite? Soil level also is quite low. My strawbwrries are mostly day neutral
I agree with all your points but I have a little caveat. Although the term dirt does scientifically mean dead soil, it is colloquially used to mean any type of soil. So most people are not using it to mean dead soil.
I have an unrelated question but it is about soil! I live in northern BC and we have been experiencing severe drought conditions. Is there anything I can do to help the soil in my garden (raised beds and in ground) retain more moisture? Last year was so smokey and dry, I want to try and help my garden be its best possible considering we are already having record low snowfall.
@GardeningInCanada we mulch with straw and chicken bedding (pine shavings). I also was going to try grass as mulch (Huw Richards speaks highly of it) but out grass grew a lot slower last year so we barely had to mow! We also chop ans drop a lot of plants. What about adding coconut coir? Would that help? Would that count as an organic as you suggest?
Great points! I think the no till and copper thing are two of the biggest-and yes the all compost and I think I know where that one stems from and most of us don’t have that much compost. I think unless you have Really crummy soil, I think the biggest problem is not watering correctly or enough for those in dry or drought stricken areas. We have severe drought and sandy loam and by installing drip emitter irrigation I seen a Huge difference in quantity and quality of produce. 😂😂I laughed when you said the tall bar thing to loosen dirt with😂😂. I till if I’m starting new area and may do that a couple years until the dirt is conditioned and no constant weed patches, then I fluff or light till after once or twice a year. I use 3’ wide long low rows I outline with reclaimed wood to hold the row in place. Soil/dirt…whatever. You soiled your pants you plant in the dirt😂😂 Ok, ok, I guess after further review online you plant in SOIL. Jeepers 😅
I’m planning to incorporate my compost pile into coconut coir and coarse vermiculite. And that is to rejuvenate the last seasons soil. Do you consider this safe?
Happy New Year! Thank-you for this information. I live on Vancouver Island and because weeds and grasses take over my garden in the winter, I pretty much have to uses a root-tiller to dig them up in the Spring. I guess this isn’t good for the microbes in the soil? Is there anything I should do or add to my soil after tilling? I usually just add some of my compost to the garden and mix it in. 😊
I also have an area I my citylot is really compact tree roots. I till to tear up the roots so my garlic can grow. I do add my compost and commercial hen manure pellets
I ignore trends. I’ve been gardening since I was ten. Had a solar greenhouse when I was thirteen. I’m almost sixty. Never even heard of this copper trend. Lol
I have some questions about setting up a large area for future gardening. I'm in Zone 9, Portland, Oregon USA and the soil to start is compacted, dry, cracked and a medium to light tan color. I realize I need to get some organic material on it to help over time..... What would you do to end the weeds from rotating with the seasons and make my soil into manageable, planting soil? What can I share with you to best answer this? And I'm very open to your thoughts, ideas, methods and directions. Budget is as always a factor it seems, but reasonable. And if I build on top of my current soil how long would it be before I can garden in it? Please help me, and you're awesome btw. Thank you for all your info in your videos. I owe a large part of my plant/garden knowledge to you 🤓 thank you!
I'm also in Portland, that sounds like backfill soil. The video she referenced about Kevin's newly tilled soil has a good amount of information on that! For me, I would rake the top of it to get most of the vegetation off, roto-till it pretty deep, and till in compost. Plant a cover crop like peas, beans, clover, etc to outcompete weeds and fix nitrogen. Sunflowers can sequester things like lead, so those are good later in the season as long as you put the dead stalks and leaves in the garbage and don't compost them.
@@CWorgen5732 I've seen that one and it does have great info. And I was thinking about doing the same as you mentioned, but I didn't know about the lead and sunflowers... Wonder what mother nature was thinking with that move. Thank you for replying 🌞
Love it! Thank you. I knew there would eventually be backtrack on never-till. It’s a great way to get started and work organic matter into a new plot. I truly enjoy seeing the recant messages put out. I’ve had concern for a plenty of the newbie gardeners feeling like they needed step in line or get thrashed. I’ll be looking for your FB group😉
golf clap for your vid. +1 for lets not talk about no till. Or nauseatingly constantlyblather on about no till. I stay away from any channel that says No Till or permaculture. Its a huge turn off. And like you said most do till. They might dishonestly say tlthe....but they are tilling. I like your honesty. Will be back
Seems like a new thing on Utube. It’s just hot composting under the plants. I would definitely set it up in the fall but I probably wouldn’t set it up and plant in it right away. I’m fairly new at gardening so what do I know? 😂
2024 is here! Ultimate takeaway I don’t care how you garden I just want you to garden and have fun! ❤ Keep it light hearted and always keep learning.
I live in a country where bags of soil are mainly peat based (a mix). My natural soil is fairly poor moraine with a thin organic top layer with low ph. In a few years this added peat based purchased soil becomes very dense and many plants don't like that. I've added some organic compost (not raw) and sand, and amended for ph per plant requirements, which has helped, but I still feel like I should do more. What? I need more air in the ground but its already planted and I can't dig it all up. Buy worms maybe?
@@player1..... It is a good starting spot. I’d shoot for more. I made raised beds of compost and had to get a lot of mineral soil in to make it useful.
@@marikal2341 You want more organic matter built up. Cover crops and mulch would be a benefit. If the spot can sit for a year I’d say wood chip and mushroom spawn.
@@GRPermie Thanks! You're right. I've built it up from nothing in 10 years without much help. The amount of compost hasn't kept up with that expansion. Instead of expanding, I should spend more time on reviving what I have. It's a great garden and a lot grows well or okayish but compacting soil is a problem.
I’m a lazy gardener. I add about 1-2” of compost (as fully composted as I can find) at the end of the season on top of my beds and let it sit over winter. I cover that up with something more carbatious like grass clippings, leaves, or whatever… I always have a huge bumper crop.
Depending on the size of the garden that's can be alot of work at the end of the season. I do that too .
I also added a top coat of compost and manure, Followed by leaves to put my beds to sleep, I am excited to see the difference this planting season.
I have several 102-L totes that I use as a worm bin and I often end up having too much vermicompost. Sometimes, I use 100% compost as a substrate for my potted plants and it seems to work very well. My climbing pothos are now 7 ft tall with 24-inch leaves. But I do have chunky materials in the pots, mostly composed of egg shells, cherry stones, crushed chicken bones, avocado peels and apple stalks; essentially everything that the worms refuse to eat after several months. I don't know if I can say planting in 100% compost is always effective but my vermicompost with chunky bits definitely seems to work for me.
That's kind of what I do with my compost and potted figs & peppers. I might mix some degraded mulch, native soil or peat into it too. The compost I use is mostly mulched leaves with some other yard and kitchen waste mixed in. I compost in a pile and there's always lots of bugs in there, moreso rolly pollies and earwigs than worms but there are worms too. With the peppers I'm overwintering I notice there's still a lot of those rolly pollies and worms in the containers continuing to break things down with a lot of insect frass visible on the surface and holes. I wouldn't necessarily say the yields are higher from that medium (~30% compost) compared to things growing in my in-ground beds (1-2" of compost per year), but it does make for a lighter medium that holds water better, and I haven't found that blossom end rot or mildew was more of a problem in that compost rich soil than in-ground.
Grow potatoes or broccoli in all compost and get big leaves with no harvest. Compost is an additive to your garden soil that breaks it up, adds nutrients and helps hold water.
I grow root veggies in compost (carrots and beets). In 2023, I got 50 lbs of large, sweet carrots from 7.5 square feet of growing space. 🤷♂️
Clarifying: that's 50 lbs at fall harvest. Not counting the carrots I harvested to thin during the growing season.
My Dad always told me. Dirt is what you sweep up off the kitchen floor. The garden is soil.
Love that!
What if the dirt on the floor came from the garden?
@@KristinaBakerSmith Then the floor has been soiled.
I aim to labor as little as necessary in the garden. So low disturbance soil is my aim
Completely agree on all points, I must say, I try to avoid disturbing established soils.
My biggest agreement is from some worm casting samples I sent to the UW soil lab. I was comparing leaf bedding vs paper bedding. As it turned out, the leaf bedding had more phosphorous, potassium and micro nutrients, plus under the microscope there was a higher density and diversity of microbes. But this was just one sample, dose not mean the next batch of castings will contain the same nutrient levels. The same goes for home made compost and fertilizer teas.
Have a great day!
Stay Well!!!
Interesting!
Love that you brought up dropping the use of Dirt. In my soil sciences class over 20 years ago the professor made sure we understood we are not to refer to soil as Dirt.
We call it min till here in Minnesota. Even farmers who practice No-Till are actually on the far end of Min-Till because the seed planter has trash wheels to till just the area of the row where the seed is dropped. About the only true no-till is the native prairies, except on could argue it is on the far end of Min-Till as the buffalo tilled the soil as they grazed the land.
The word dirt exists for a reason. I will forego the word dirt and use the word 'shoil' (shitty soil that wont even grow a tumbleweed).
Thank you about the compost warning. My dad(an actual farmer) said the exact same thing as you are here.
Ha he probably knows from his own experiments
Hey, maybe talk about IPM. It was taking off back when I was in college 20 years ago.
My dad has defied the odds on the farm by raising a family on less than 500 acre crop and livestock farm.
The neighbors were obsessed with having the cleanest fields. Dad was not bothered by havingclean fields. As one farmer said, how is it that your field has weeds, looks like s***, but you always have an unbelievable harvest. Dad's response was something to the effect of if you have a clean field that means you may be putting on too much herbicide that it is hurting your crop. He stressed the importance of ensuring of applying adequate nutrients and managing the weed competition. The goal is to have the crop outgrow the weeds.
I had a wonderful crop of sweet corn this year on an area of the lawn that grew nothing but weeds. We tilled the soil thoroughly and I made sure to apply sufficient fertilizer, especially nitrogen. Pulled weeds once early on, but once the corn got going the weeds didn't have a chance and were stunted by mid season. Amazing as about the only thing that grew there reliably was crab grass. And no, I did not use any post emergence herbicides.
I planted crimson clover as a cover crop and plan to grow sweetcorn and sunflower again this year. We plan to expand and tear up more of the lawn this year.
Thumbs up for the copper trend! I have a plot in a community garden, and many of the plots had the copper coiled "stakes" beside their plants this past summer (I'm in Canada as well.) My plants out produced theirs by quite a bit. I think people are looking for a simple, easy method to garden and the "influencers" aren't giving them the right information. As you stated, people need to research how to properly use gardening techniques such as this, not just watch a video where someone stuck a copper pole in the ground and it miraculously helped produce this amazing plant. Love the channel, keep up the good work!
As someone who just learned about No Dig and 100% compost gardening, I am saddened by your video haha. I would love to learn more and see what you think! Perhaps a future video topic? Have you ever done a full start to finish video exploring how you would put together a garden bed?
I just put several Charles Dowding style no dig beds in my garden to replace raised beds, but the base I used was locally made triple mix, not 100% compost. I plan to add an inch or two of compost each year I guess but now I will have to look into it...
Thanks for the excellent insights as usual!
Yes! I will do video on this absolutely.
You can't add too much homemade Compost, its basically food for the soil microbes. If you buy crap compost with added chemical nutrients then you could be in trouble but homemade compost is quite low in nutrients and they dont leach out.
As a soil scientist I would challenge that
Totally agree , if you are buying compost it isn't compost and you failed , most gardeners remove everything that would enrich soil naturally for superficial effect, failure
When I hear no till I literally think they want me to just poke seeds in with a chopstick. Thank you Ashley for clarifying low till. I tend to put on compost and do a low till in the spring.
Perfect! love it
All dirt on earth contains the nutrients plants need to grow. The problem is that those nutrients are not soluble for plants.
Plants use energy from the sun to release exudates, which attract soil life to their roots. It is the soil life that eat those nutrients, and then poop them out into a soluble form for the plants.
If you kill soil life, then you destroy the only thing that can break down nutrients for plants to consume (this is why covering soil and avoiding tilling is best).
Compost is a method to rapidly breed soil life. Then you sprinkle that compost into your garden (covering it so the bacteria aren’t exposed to sunlight and die), and then those bacteria get to work eating nutrients and pooping them out for plants.
Growing your plants in pure compost doesn’t make any sense because it’s a waste of compost, and your compost may not contain enough diversity of nutrients for your plants.
Good video , I seen many youtube videos where someone is pushing new techniques and usually their trying to sell something . Tried and proven techniques for me but I'm not so stuck in my ways NOT to listen to science. Thank you for this channel.
Absolutely anytime! Let me know if
You even want something specific
Composting can be tricky, but the cost of soil or the lack of truth of where it comes from can be equally tricky. Soil that has been over exposed to a broad spectrum of “cides” can really take down plants. I prefer to create my own beds from things I know and handle. I am also a great believer in the importance of diversity of component sizes in a garden bed.
As a general rule, it's great to take broad statements like "you shouldn't till your soil" with a grain of salt. It's like anything, where people get into a mindset and are convinced that it is 100% right in every situation, ignoring reality. It's a bit frustrating? sad? when you see other gardeners you respect jumping on bandwagons, knowing it'll just increase the zealots' certainty that they're right......
So it's very refreshing seeing people not afraid to take a different stance! Thanks Ashley. YT algorithm had you out of my feed for a bit there, but I'm glad you're back in it 😊
Everyone tilled their gardens when I was a kid and they had super productive gardens.🤷♀️
The reasons why for that is actually pretty shocking
I'm a low till and a full on deep till girl too. Depends on where and at what stage my garden is in lol. Small amount of bagged compost, (I don't make my own), and alfalfa pellets have been working amazing for me!
So true!
Who has endless compost? Who are these hoarders? I'm lucky if I can sprinkle a wee bit atop each bed.
I'm just jealous now...
Low till all the way. Chem fertilizer ONLY when needed. Dirt is dirt until organic matter is added to make it that microbes have the necessary food to make it alive. Ray Delbury Sussex County NJ USA
Love those ideas
Its funny hearing you mention gravel is alive and can grow stuff, I know lots will disagree but it truly is I had strawberry runners take root amazing in gravel and even some gourd vines that there wasn't room for on my trellis go off into my gravel walkways and do good, plants can thrive in so much more than what people call "perfect soil"
Ok my friend. Cheers from the B.C. 50 years back I asked my old man what's with the wire strung all over the garden? After it was set up for 24 hours the soil seemed to contain more worms than the rest of the garden. Also, this works for rounding up garden hackles for fishing. Green the planet.
i wonder what type of wire that was!
Thank you someone had mentioned that i try it, will definitely not do green compost!
HAHa thats fait. lets hope the comments stay PG
Moderation is the key! A little goes a long way with compost.
Yes exactly
Hello Ashley listening. Well when plants get transplanted, a hole has to be dug. I try to let any biomass and compost time to fully decompose down. Take CaRe
Good to know!
We started really gardening in 2023, we got a lomi composter when it came out. We collected the output in a bucket outside At the end of the season we mixed a big batch of it with grass clipping and maple leaf & soil amenment - herbionik under a black tarp
Really hoping for the best 🤞
No tilt got me to much compose and poor drainage problems.
No more testing copper electrodes in my plans 2024.
I got my tilted out turned over my garden gently compared to my past years.
Blossoms end rot you feed your seedling and taught me its the cause of Blossoms end rot problems
I wrote the no tilt ends before you mentioned it in this video, and I do broadfork ( I built myself mine) .
Less tilt we can label it " Less tilt "
Recommend catching rain water as good advice
I've removed at least 20 wheel barrel loads of stones from my 50 square ft main garage in 7 season if not for tilting I would never had found my problem. Now I raise carrots anywhere
Thanks Lady of science of Canada 🇨🇦
Yes I believe that
I'm halfway through this video and pmsl 😂
I got to calling soil "dirt" just to irk my prof's in college, they literally had a rule about calling it dirt, and I liked to push the envelope a little bit in a jokey way with them. Some of them took it well, some of them were starting to think of ways I wouldn't get to second year XD
Hahah love it
When I went to cosmetology school all of our instructors would get upset if you called hair color hair dye.. lawyers have lawyer speak.. sometimes it feels like this language policing is just western chauvinism and class interest protecting its power.. done to signal to others that have had “proper” education from the establishment powers that be and a Leone to make everyday common people feel less than. Some people call it dirt.. as long as they are growing and getting their hands in there it really shouldn’t matter what people call it. Using it to insult “poor soil” is the real issue.. soil snobbery not the language of everyday people
My prof made a point of it that we did not joke around using the D word in class.
@@andersjohansson6118 haha yes that’s pretty normals mine were the same
@@andersjohansson6118 ours did too, that's exactly why I did it XD
Oooohhh not gonna lie, I'm convinced my backyard is currently dirt. Its currently rockscaped (not by us, we just bought the house) so the dir . . . Soil. Has been covered in landscape fabric and under a pretty thick layer of gravel for a couple years. I live in Colorado so dry as hell, not a lot of rain.
I'll have to borrow a microscope and report back . . .
You can totally revive it! It’s not dirt I promise
LOL glad to know I followed none of those trends. I low low till, mulch with very little compost, had no idea about copper and I have planted everywhere whether I call it dirt or soil I know it is alive. Can't wait to see what the 2024 trends are going to be and whether I ignore them lol.
HAHA love it
Way back in university took a soil science course and one day someone in the class asked a question and refered to soil as 'dirt', that only happened once.
Hahah yes
2 things: I love you throwing your opinions around while still approving of individual gardening techniques. 2) I want to start a new game where I get to drink or have a treat everytime you say "Etcetera and so forth". It makes me laugh everytime you say it.
Haha 😆
I like your comment about being low till…. Never quite got the no till never really made sense to me! Low till is the way… as for the copper trend….. not sure where I’ve been but never heard of it! Thanks for once again clarifying things for people and giving measured/balanced views and advice to “trends”. Like in all things, never good to put all your eggs in the same basket and a little goes a long way! I know there’s an expression that’s a better fit but just can’t think of it at this time.
I think experimenting is important too. Always try something new on a small scale its just my experience the no till trend is very limited to who it works with.
बहुत बढ़िया जानकारी है
I had to dig out one of my raised beds about 6 weeks ago. I also dug it down another 30cm. To refill it, I used about 10% heavy clay soil, 60% of the soil I dug out (with lots of roots from last years planting) and 30% finished compost. Hoping that's a good mix. It's also going to sit for at least a couple more months before I plant into it.
as i have come to understand in other areas of life extremism is not a good thing. moderation and adapting is what gardening is all about for me and those i know.
110%!
Ashley, last summer I got that white powdery thing on my potato leaves. It didn't seem to affect the potatoes, there were lots and they were healthy looking. I was wondering if the white stuff got into the soil and if I should do anything to the soil before planting my potatoes this coming spring ? I'll be using the same soil as I used last year, organic soil mixed with worm castings and a little chicken manure, and then some bone meal in the hole where I planted.
did it have alot of hyphea? or just flat almost dust like?
I am assuming it was just powdery mildew. Don't reuse the mulch and avoid composting the plant debri. Next year consider using sulphur powder early in the season.
@@GardeningInCanada yes it was powdery mildew. I didn't compost the plants. Thanks for your reply. I will look for some sulphur powder and apply that early, thank you
I'm a big compost guy. Not planting in it but heavily amending with it, top dressing my planting beds and lawn with it. I mulch my lawn clippings and fall leaves. Rarely use synthetic fertilizer and never use any other chemical treatments. Little weeds now. Get it good quality compost from a soil yard not box store. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Top dressing is pretty normal
I use the term dirt basically interchangeably with soil. Examples include: the soil that I use in my backyard to grow my veggies is dirt, I took a dirt class at uni last semester, I make sure the dirt holding my potted plants is properly moistened. There's no such thing as a dead soil, but dirt is such a fun word to say and shouldn't be applied to things that don't exist
Thank you thank you! It's refreshing to hear this.
Thanks for listening
Check out my tomatoes they are no till, I used 3lbs of radish seeds in a small area and feed the radish foliar until it bolted in the spring and crimped it and planted tomatoes in a true no till in pure clay and my tomatoes grew 2ft per month. I did go light on the compost 2 inches. I'm lazy and will continue to not till and overplant seed.
Nice how do you plant in a true no till situation just build up on the ground from last year type thing.
So whats a good ratio compost to native clay soil to top soil? I make my own hot compost. Very diverse,leafs , toilet paper rolls,garden/kitchen waste, coffee grounds, even some burnt bones and biochar go into my compost. O and i even made my own LABS serum to help heat it back up after i got it too wet this winter. I left my tarp off on accident during a rainy week. I turn it every 5 days. So i would say its a good quality compost. Lots of worms have showed up to stay warm this winter lol
Have you incorporated any organics into the profile as a whole yet?
@@GardeningInCanada im starting from scratch on a clay lawn. So I was going to till initially the add my compost and some top soil.
I hadn't heard about the copper trend. I saw a nasty greenhouse compost situation. It looked like an accident waiting to happen. I once visited a commercial strawberry garden that seemed to defy everything we knew about growing strawberries. The soil was straight gravel, no straw, the farm situated on a extremely high elevation of land south of Bethany in Ontario.
The strawberries were superb, and this was at the end of the season. It still mystifies me.
Oh no.
Would love to know the name of the strawberry farm!
I haven't heard someone talk about Bethany in years! I used to be a ski instructor there.
I actually had strawberry runners take root really good in gravel this past season, its funny to think there is a strawberry farm out there that is just gravel for growing
Where I used to live, wild strawberries only grew on the edge of the gravel driveway. At my farm there are big patches all over the lawns, but they still love the gravel path to the barn, and the other rocky areas with little soil coverage. They are really tasty and get quite large for wild. I never gave it much thought until I saw your comment, but it is very interesting!
I'm in Newfoundland, and I know our summer is shorter then yours, but this is still very much helpful. I guess it is time to dig out my little indoor greenhouses. Lol.
great info.. im winter gardening ill have to start more up.... no supermarkets.. i barely have any compost ... so yes it's moderate... always great advice
Very nice! Love your profile photo by the way!
The Elephant in the room is organic gardening…not mentioned.
No hate please! Nothing wrong with responsible use of synthetic fertilizer
oo i love this as a conversation.
@@GardeningInCanada Yes, I'd like to hear thoughts on this. I use both.
Me too. A little shot of miracle grow in the spring as my soil is very alkaline and the rains wash away the nitrogen. Then a little cow manure when I transplant around the transplant and see how things shape-up. I also have a bucket of homemade tea fertilizer. I use a TBSP in a large watering can and add a little Sulphur, if the plants look like they could use a little something.
I don’t advocate going back to the 1950’s.
I utilize a mix of both without any form of pesticides. If the bugs won’t let me grow something I give up on it.
As someone else said it’s almost entirely the lack of nitrogen as I don’t have any poop to compost.
All nitrogen is short lived in any form. And apparently the microbes can’t tell the difference between organic and synthetic nitrogen.
I dumped leftover liquid synthetic fertilizer in a 5-gallon bucket with hopes it would evaporate. It did not. After six months it remained at the same level in the bucket. What did happen, however, was that it separated, creating a 2-inch layer of petroleum on the surface. This is not something I want to use to grow my food.
No hate; just saying.
@GardeninginCanada
It's interesting to look at ideas, but my back gets up when someone tries to sell me a cure all. Thanks for the tips.
Very true
I am not using very much compost this year. Mostly because I can't find it for a cheap enough price where I live. And I found out and tested my garden. Very alkaline. Probably from too much compost in the past. And now I just realized my seedlings are stunted because they were potted up with just compost. I will change that today. Gardening is all about learning.
Having only watched a third of this video, I get the silliness of using pure compost in the garden. I'm wondering what your end of video rec will be. Mix in a 2-3 inch layer of compost with the soil then run a pH/NPK/Ca/Mg test? I can't wait to fin out... I love your videos, mind, AND your red hair! :) More Q's to follow, I'm sure.
I totally agree especially near the end
Wait what was wrong with Dowding’s style of no dig? He’s been the most reasonable garden TH-camr I’ve seen for ages.
Nothing. It’s more a commentary on the wild versions of CD people come up with, it definitely has a purpose for some soil types just not all some might argue
In my experience, it ALL depends on soil type. Where I live in Northern Canada, I had no choice but to till to get growing conditions to its optimal state. My native soil is full of clay and is so incredibly hard-packed it was like moving chunks of cement. There was no way anything but goldenrod, horsetail and thistle would thrive. And if I wanted to plant an apple tree... how am I going to do that without tilling or digging? Some "no-diggers" are just nuts.
@@GardeningInCanada that’s reasonable. Definitely don’t think CD is advocating never digging under any circumstances ever.
I garden in table height raised beds similar to the corrugated steel Birdies beds. The bottom half is filled with old logs and yard debris. Then well-rotted cow manure that was blended with peat moss to lighten the mix. Each year, I top dress with 1-2 inches of my own compost, which includes a very small amount of local (Alberta) heavy clay soil for improved nutrient retention and moisture control. I'm growing in straight compost at this point. I also mulch the beds with a mixture of grass, leaves and chopped straw. I stick with all-natural fertilizers too (blood, bone, fish, JADAM/weed tea). I typically see large yields, both leafy greens and root veg. Peppers and tomatoes don't do quite as well in this setup, but interestingly, I got explosive growth for these in the initial year when it was just the composted cow manure.
Love this! Everything in moderation! Overusing compost is just like overusing synthetic ferilizers. Excesses leach out and pollute waterways and contibute to algal blooms. I think people think that since compost is natural, it must be good for the environment and you can use as much as you want...
I only grow in containers, so....no-till ? Lol i really need to buy a broad fork because my yard is way too wet all the time , too much clay but for now i can't justify the expense to use just a few times.
HAHA yes! love that observation. I have containers too so ia m no till gang.
Compost should be used as a soil/medium AMENDMENT; inocculant (soil biome) and fertiliser (decayed plant and insect material). Compost is an excellent soil amendment btw.
Thanks. Most you tube garden channels use content on Compost, Dirt, No Till, Copper to offer their affiliate link to sell stuff....My editorial comment on Copper: I am waiting for Copper and harmonic conversion videos along with gardening barefoot....
I tried naked gardening, but it didn't go over well.
Haha ooo barefoot. That’s going to be a future trend!!! I feel it.
I have a bed that was made with a couple loads of compost. It went well until it did not go so well... now I realize more doesnt mean more 😅. How should I ammend? Im thinking of tilling in some sand, maybe some peat.... any recommendations?
You could do peat, leaf mould or mineral soil. Have you seen my leaf mould videos?
Your welcome from India
There are some plants I might plant directly in pure compost every year. But not all plants. Idk. I just think some types of plants are able to handle it better and even do really well. But I'm also making my own compost.
I’m definitely no-till simply because I have a bad back, bad leg, and am simply lazy. But I’m still going to try to garden in 2024. 😊
Oh that is fair. You should look into raised beds that might help even more.
@@GardeningInCanada I do have one 12” metal raised bed. The other one is a 6” raised mound on the ground. Would I love a 3’ raised bed? You betcha! But I already have $500 tomatoes from listening to other YT channels and buying all that fertilizing kind of stuff. 😂😂 Hubby would have a fit.
@@artstamper316 beautiful!
You start the growing medium with peat, compost, and perlite/vermiculite. Then amend with compost as a fertilizer. I’ve always had great crops this way.
I had zero idea an all compost bed would be so bad, thank you so much for posting this. About to set up new beds this week as the crappy neighbour has left me alone long enough to get back in my garden and I've ordered so much compost, I'll go order some blimin soil too 😅🙈. I thought I was upping my game not giving myself a hinderence!
OO! What zone are you in?
And of course my ground cherries and cape gooseberries are dying to get outside now 😅 so I really need to get the outside greenhouse done asap 😅🙈
I don't know where your garden is situated but if you have a bad neighbor due to lack of privacy (like I did) grow food on trellises to block the view and increase your yield. I grew some Waltham squash (deeelicious) that have huge gorgeous leaves right up to Fall, however they do take up a lot of space. Hope things work out.
@@Fred.pSonic I'm actually doing exactly this ATM! We share a path that goes through the side of my garden so I ordered a few 3.2m raised beds and 6ft rebar and 12m of wire mesh. Lol. Lots of peas and beans germinating ready to fill it up in a few weeks or so. I'll be creating a firm wall between us both, and I'm also getting the greenhouse/poly tunnel up so far less space for him to come give me grief.
@@Fred.pSonic I'll definitely look into the Waltham squash, and Ty for the advice! Much appreciated.
No hate just love a “deep” mulch of homemade compost on top of soil = less weeds ! That alone is my love!
yesss so true
No till only works if someone already tilled the area for you haha. I have sticky clay. It’s so non porous that water sheers off of it. I had to build raised beds because it rains a lot here and my beds would have just washed away on top of clay. You can try and amend clay over many many years with no till. But I wanted a garden right away so went with raised beds.
Hi Ashley - I have scoured internet looking for a broadfork that can stand up to clay soil. Do you have any suggestions
Great tips to carry into the year! Thanks for sharing & Happy New Year from central Alberta 🤗
You are so welcome!
I love it when you're upset about something! Ha! I did need to hear about the compost thing. Thanks!
How do I get more mineral soil? I have 2-3 beds that are too much organic matter (peat and compost) and not enough mineral soil, as I just loaded the organics on top of cardboard. It does not aggregate at all, and I know (now) that it's not ideal. How can I amend this situation? I kind of thought the worms would do it, but maybe not???
nearly anywhere. Do you have a space you can dig into? that or gardens soil bags/bulk
Isn't "all compost" beds something that for example Charles Dowding and Richard Perkins are doing? They do it wrong?
I don’t know Richard Perkins, but Charles Dowding still plants in soil, but layers compost on top of the soil. His soil has been amended greatly due to this. He also does dig vs no dig experiments. However, I don’t know what type of soil he is working on. My soil is alkaline and chalky, fine in winter, doesn’t get water logged, but compacts and dries out solid. Sort of like dried out pottery clay that has not been fired. I haven’t ‘tilled’ most of my beds this past year and I noticed no till was not going to work for me. I’m going to use a fork to break up the soil a bit this year before planting.
I don't think so, hes putting down cardboard and at least 10cm (4inch) of compost on top of that. So he plants directly in "all compost" . Am i completely missing the point here what is meant by "all compost" beds? I don't think anyone is digging half meter deep craters and filling them with compost, or do they?
@@louise2209
I have this funny feeling european definition for compost is different then the north americans. Also Charles plant roots are hitting mineral soil, they wont perch themselves at the cardboard soil interface.
What about compacted soil that is saturated with salt ?
In urban areas, often salt buckets or snow melt bins have huge spillage on nearby soil and killing plants nearby.
Can you give solutions to reclaim the soil's viability in those areas?
Thank you.
Ooo yes!
Look up remediation of saline-sodic soils. There's both biological and chemical remediation. Because the issue is mostly a sodium (Na) here, use gypsum or some elemental sulfur. The idea is to replace Na with Ca from the gypsum. If your soil has some good amount of calcium carbonate, the elemental sulfur will become an acid that'll break the carbonate. Chemically getting the Na out of the exchange sites will help you plant at least some cover crops to accelerate and retain some water to avoid it sleeting off.
I've always been skeptical of anything that claims to provide instant success ...."this one wierd trick" is usually an attempt to sell you something. I actually hadn't heard much about the copper trend - what I'd heard made sense in a controlled environment, but not in a typical garden. Anyway guess I'll keep to my 'everthing in moderation' and 'limit harm' mode of gardening. It seems to work well enough. Thank you.
Yes true
Hi I'm planting in 5 litre buckets using perlite coir and mushroom compost. 25% 25% 50% mix. My tomatoes have bloosm end rot. I was travelling 14 days and they didn't get water but I filled the self wicking reservoir. Any advice if my mix is off or was it lack of water.
I am going to lean towards it being a pH issue, I have several videos on this but you should incorporate dolomite lime to help for this.
Here in SoCal zone 10a, I have "fill soil" in my backyard where formerly there was an inground pool. Subsequently the soil is quite variable but I'd guess it would be mostly classified as sandy clay, there are areas that are VERY rocky, should I attempt to sift out the rocks to a depth of a few inches or try to amend with the rocks in place? Currently using raised beds and grow bags for vegetables and flowers but would like to plant in ground as well. Any advice will be appreciated.
Yeah the no til... didnt till nothing grew until i tilled and added compost. I concluded it was because we didn't buy bagged crap "black soil" this year or anything who is bagged. Might be wrong. I tilled my whole garden in the fall and covered it all with leaves
My no till strawberry bed didnt do so well this year. I believe the issue was i didnt use perlite or vermiculite on the mix. I believe i used little perlite with city compost and peat moss.. tried to remive some of the clay soil i had in it originally. Strawberries produced only if i kept feeding nitrogen otherwise they make new leaves that turned brown at crown level. Strawberries were watery like store bough. Would it be a good idea to do this spring but earlier when they sleeping dig all the plants off and put vermiculite and perlite? Soil level also is quite low. My strawbwrries are mostly day neutral
I agree with all your points but I have a little caveat. Although the term dirt does scientifically mean dead soil, it is colloquially used to mean any type of soil. So most people are not using it to mean dead soil.
The copper trend is my 1960's pet rock...a great marketing 'feel good'!
I would love..love an Ashley Rants playlist. Cheers from US Ann
Haha 😆
I completely agree!!!
When you said have knowledge and listen to me, umm YES! Yes, I will! ❤
Haha awe
I have an unrelated question but it is about soil!
I live in northern BC and we have been experiencing severe drought conditions. Is there anything I can do to help the soil in my garden (raised beds and in ground) retain more moisture? Last year was so smokey and dry, I want to try and help my garden be its best possible considering we are already having record low snowfall.
Organics and mulching!
@GardeningInCanada we mulch with straw and chicken bedding (pine shavings). I also was going to try grass as mulch (Huw Richards speaks highly of it) but out grass grew a lot slower last year so we barely had to mow! We also chop ans drop a lot of plants.
What about adding coconut coir? Would that help? Would that count as an organic as you suggest?
Any benifit of stones in soil?
Great points! I think the no till and copper thing are two of the biggest-and yes the all compost and I think I know where that one stems from and most of us don’t have that much compost.
I think unless you have Really crummy soil, I think the biggest problem is not watering correctly or enough for those in dry or drought stricken areas. We have severe drought and sandy loam and by installing drip emitter irrigation I seen a Huge difference in quantity and quality of produce.
😂😂I laughed when you said the tall bar thing to loosen dirt with😂😂. I till if I’m starting new area and may do that a couple years until the dirt is conditioned and no constant weed patches, then I fluff or light till after once or twice a year. I use 3’ wide long low rows I outline with reclaimed wood to hold the row in place.
Soil/dirt…whatever. You soiled your pants you plant in the dirt😂😂
Ok, ok, I guess after further review online you plant in SOIL. Jeepers 😅
Great comment! lots if great info
No till is grow in compost.
also i grow stuff in basically pure sand here in florida, doesnt matter, most things grow great
I’m planning to incorporate my compost pile into coconut coir and coarse vermiculite. And that is to rejuvenate the last seasons soil. Do you consider this safe?
Definitionally, how is the term 'dirt' different from 'soil'?
Happy New Year! Thank-you for this information. I live on Vancouver Island and because weeds and grasses take over my garden in the winter, I pretty much have to uses a root-tiller to dig them up in the Spring. I guess this isn’t good for the microbes in the soil? Is there anything I should do or add to my soil after tilling? I usually just add some of my compost to the garden and mix it in. 😊
Contrary it causes a massive explosion of microbe activity because of the introduction of oxygen. I should do a video on this
I also have an area I my citylot is really compact tree roots. I till to tear up the roots so my garlic can grow. I do add my compost and commercial hen manure pellets
Hopefully your tree is still okay!
I ignore trends. I’ve been gardening since I was ten. Had a solar greenhouse when I was thirteen. I’m almost sixty. Never even heard of this copper trend. Lol
that is wild! I love a life time gardener
Interesting! I'd never heard people use the term dirt to refer to dead soil! I kinda thought the words were interchangable haha
Very well said. Excellent!
Glad you liked it!
I have some questions about setting up a large area for future gardening. I'm in Zone 9, Portland, Oregon USA and the soil to start is compacted, dry, cracked and a medium to light tan color. I realize I need to get some organic material on it to help over time..... What would you do to end the weeds from rotating with the seasons and make my soil into manageable, planting soil? What can I share with you to best answer this? And I'm very open to your thoughts, ideas, methods and directions. Budget is as always a factor it seems, but reasonable. And if I build on top of my current soil how long would it be before I can garden in it? Please help me, and you're awesome btw. Thank you for all your info in your videos. I owe a large part of my plant/garden knowledge to you 🤓 thank you!
I'm also in Portland, that sounds like backfill soil. The video she referenced about Kevin's newly tilled soil has a good amount of information on that!
For me, I would rake the top of it to get most of the vegetation off, roto-till it pretty deep, and till in compost. Plant a cover crop like peas, beans, clover, etc to outcompete weeds and fix nitrogen.
Sunflowers can sequester things like lead, so those are good later in the season as long as you put the dead stalks and leaves in the garbage and don't compost them.
@@CWorgen5732 I've seen that one and it does have great info. And I was thinking about doing the same as you mentioned, but I didn't know about the lead and sunflowers... Wonder what mother nature was thinking with that move. Thank you for replying 🌞
Love it! Thank you.
I knew there would eventually be backtrack on never-till.
It’s a great way to get started and work organic matter into a new plot.
I truly enjoy seeing the recant messages put out.
I’ve had concern for a plenty of the newbie gardeners feeling like they needed step in line or get thrashed.
I’ll be looking for your FB group😉
Balance is always the key!
golf clap for your vid. +1 for lets not talk about no till. Or nauseatingly constantlyblather on about no till. I stay away from any channel that says No Till or permaculture. Its a huge turn off. And like you said most do till. They might dishonestly say tlthe....but they are tilling. I like your honesty. Will be back
Compost is great if you make your own. The harmful stuff comes from commercial,compost.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Happy New Year!
Looks like the new trend maybe hotbeds?
Ooo I have to look into that
Seems like a new thing on Utube.
It’s just hot composting under the plants.
I would definitely set it up in the fall but I probably wouldn’t set it up and plant in it right away.
I’m fairly new at gardening so what do I know? 😂