Why Does Back to Eden Gardening Work? -- with Lex Case
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 มี.ค. 2017
- What's the difference between soil and dirt? And why is no-till gardening with a thick layer of mulch so effective? To answer these qeustions we're back in the "back-to-Eden" style suburban garden we toured earlier this week. This time Lex Case is telling us why he's so passionate about living soil, and why he thinks deep mulch with wood chips is the easiest and best way to garden for food production.
The early spring tour of their garden, with Lex's wife Erin, is here:
• Back to Eden in the Su...
I have one more Back to Eden video with this wonderful family in which Erin plants out her cool weather tolerant seedlings, and you can see exactly how she pushes the wood chips aside to plant. Plus I'll come back later in the season and show you what this garden looks like in full production!
Erin and Lex don't have a TH-cam channel. But they do have a product for sale! Check this out if you're interested in a soil amendment that focuses on living soil. terrafreshhome.com
Enjoy!
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You can hop over to the Skill of the Month Club FB group to share your thoughts or brag your homework. / 363729293988483
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About the skill of the month club:
Part community, part skill-share, we're just a group of people hanging out together and trying to encourage awesomeness in every category having to do with simple living, intentional living and homestead life. Esther will do the lessons in the first month, but as we go on to different skills we'll be hearing from all sorts of experts!
Esther Emery is "the Homestead Wife" and the daughter of Carla Emery, author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living.
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Esther's book: What Falls From the Sky: How I Disconnected From the Internet and Reconnected With the God Who Made the Clouds -- www.estheremery.com/books/ and everywhere books are sold.
Esther's mom's book: The Encyclopedia of Country Living amzn.to/2fMuOQM - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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The man in this video has done his homework. This has been explained wonderfully. Thank you for posting this. A healthy plant will fight every disease comming its way.
Love the chickens that stole the show.
WOW. Esther this (for me) was the most informative video! The folks you have on are super knowledgeable! Thank you!!! Thank you Lex and Erin also!
I didn't realize this kind of gardening had a name? Now I'll be searching eden gardens for the rest of the night :)Thanks for sharing all of your tips and tricks. We only have a small space in our backyard, but, we too make good use of it. Last year I tried to leave the garden as natural as possible, no tilling, lots of leaves and sticks to decompose...and I found it worked. The garden was full of life - lots of worms where there were none before, little bugs, ants...yet, we didn't have any disease or pest bugs eating our stuff. This method seems to work.
Good information. My husband and I have started a Back to Eden garden as a result of God's leading us to the Back to Eden film and Paul Gautschi. It is quite exciting to see our Creator at work. Thank you Esther for this video.
Thanks for another interesting video, Esther, and thanks for investing the time and effort needed to film and edit as much as you do.
Love hearing a Man's passion for gardening...we don't have many men around our parts that will talk about Gardening construction, properties, etc... Thank you Mr Lex Case.
Video Time Stamping :
0:49 4-5 yrs Eden gardening =Wood chips provide Nutrients, Micro Nutrients, Microbiology of soil, Minimal to no- weeding required, no watering june july august.
1:58 Green beans, Pumpkins, Big Gourds , Potatoes, Black berries, lots of grown food in a small space.
2:41 What are the Steps to making an Eden Garden ?
3:36 Dealing with extremely harden soil.
4:23 How do you know if your Soil is any good ?
Test soil : Nitrogen / Phosphorus / Potassium
5:40 Tell us more about the Yellow; Nitrogen thing (for the beginners)
(Nitro rich ingrediants)
7:01 Commercial farming (pesticides/herbacides kill the life in soil)
7:49 Plants have evolved to take care of themselves with the symbiotic relationships around it. *Living Soil* with complex multiple relationships.
9:23 Soil Stimulant Product. *Terra-Fresh*
terrafreshhome.com/tomato-ssq-magnet
Thank you Mr Case , for your sharing. cheers
That's a handsome man who knows what he's talking about! Very informative Esther and Lex. The video turned out great!
Erin Case yes he is handsome ;)
Carey Mac
I'm gay, and even if were straight I'd not be attracted.
I think he ought to lose the beard and keep the mustache
Doris C wow. So glad you (being gay and all) felt the need to make such a negative comment. Blessings to you.
Doris C well, you are gay, so.
His demeanor is very calm on this video. Wish I was more like that. Great content.
I don't think I have ever seen Lex not with a calm demeanor.
Another awesome video. What a great couple . I also love seeing the backbone of the garden garden this time of year. Free , local and sustainable is the way to go !
Thanks Esther for fun videos, greetings to your family.
Ronny from Belgium.
Hi, Ronny! Thanks for watching.
Thank you!! I learned soo much that Im going to apply to my future garden!!! Thank you for the ripples in the water, I will pass on the info~
NO SNOW! YAYYYY
Esther & Lex,
Thank you so very much for AGAIN bringing us such valuable information.
*wood chips*. The BURNING question: *WHAT KIND of wood chips?*
Lex, what type of wood chips did you use that are not toxic to plants?
Esther... if you get a free moment (ha!ha!) would you please address the conversation in your last video? Since you have a scientific mind, I believe you understand my concerns best. Thanks in advance! Lots of love and prayers
I completely agree with @illyounotme in his response here. There are a few woods that are toxic -- cedar is really the only one we have to worry about here -- and more that may cause problems for a carpenter with their face in the sawdust. But mostly the issue of keeping toxins out of your garden is about making sure there aren't toxins ADDED. Relevant to your other question as well, if the wood was treated with chemicals to prevent decay (like what many pallets are made of) then you probably don't want to use that for any gardening purpose. Although...probably some will disagree with me on that.
If you're looking at chipped or broken up "trash" wood you need to ask if there is gasoline in it, or other chemicals mixed in by construction process. In our set-up, for example, we have construction sawdust that is clean and construction sawdust that isn't clean, because it was mixed with gasoline in the shop. We keep them separate and use only the clean sawdust for our animals and composting. I'd just avoid construction trash for gardening purposes if you can.
But back to Back to Eden: what many people do, including Lex and Erin, is get a "chip drop" from arborists and landscapers who are cutting down trees or limbing trees. For these tree-cutting professionals the wood chips are trash and they appreciate people who want to take them. This doesn't work for me because nobody wants to drop off chips at the end of a narrow, winding mountain road. :) That is one reason why Nick and I don't have a really good wood chip garden. We have used some wood chips, but we have so much ground that we're working, and we just haven't done the work to add the really thick mulch layer that makes such a difference. This year we're going to focus on that and get it done!
I hope this helps! Good luck.
You should see what my aisles in my garden are like! I covered them with cardboard and then opened bags of "shredded hardwood mulch" from the big box store (like Lowe's) and spread it on the cardboard. I did this because I need to do something to keep the weeds out of the aisles. It has been a good weed deterrent for about two years and now the soil in those aisles and the worm life is better than the soil I plant in in the rows! I need to put down new cardboard and more "shredded hardwood mulch." I've tried to use landscaping fabric covered with the same wood stuff in the aisles but some weeds, especially grasses and wild onions, grow through even the really expensive stuff from Johnny's. I don't want to use plastic in the aisles.
Thank you Esther and Lex!!! I am still learning/researching as I prepare to have my first garden (soon). Good to hear we should start in the Fall with soil prep. I'd love to know what combination of layers/ingredients Lex uses in their garden. Is there a recipe that you'd/he'd recommend? Thanks SO much for posting this video. It's exciting to be able to interact as I set out on this adventure.
To break my very heavy clay soil, I used southern peas (Ozark Razorback). The type also produces huge biomass.
Marigold Homestead good idea!
When I was breaking my clay soil, I didn't start with "back to Eden" (I will continue with it now).
1. In early spring, when the sod has the smallest roots, I turned it over. (try to crumble it right away with a shovel or hoe, because when left alone, it will harden into a "stone"). I covered it with cardboard, only until I the weather was good to plant.
2. When the time was right (zone 5), I planted the southern peas. I chose Ozark Razorback, because it is winding type (I didn't stake it). Some types, like Holstein, are standing and 3' tall only, with a small biomass.
3. In the early fall I cut it down and lightly chopped it into the ground with a hoe.
4. After few weeks I sow winter rye (leaving it for winter intact)
5. Following spring I had a big biomass. Just before the rye went to seed, I mowed it down (leaving it in the place). It took few weeks for it to dry. I planted my late season crop (cabbage) without turning the whole dirt (beginning of the "back to Eden" :-) . I just hoed 1" diameter circle to put the plants in. Rest of the rye made a good mulch.
- it helps with clay in few ways: southern peas break the soil with roots (they don't mind heavy clay). The winding plants protect soil from the sun. They add biomass. The green manure winter rye or winter wheat grew well in clay (!). Their roots are working the soil and after cutting they decompose in it leaving air spaces and biomass.
I hope it helps :-)
Welcome. :-) I am passionate about growing my own food. I wish more people wanted to do that!
I want to do this so much!
Side note: the only piece of missing information is about tiling a Back to Eden garden. Don't do it! Never ever till the wood chips into the dirt. You will never need to do it. It will suck the nitrogen right out of the soil and disturb the micro ecosystems beneath.
Nice work Esther! The way you cut that up made it look like I actually know what I'm talking about! ;-)
Thanks for contributing, Lex. We appreciate your knowledge!
Lex Case Since we're in the beginning of Spring, does that mean I have to wait until next fall to use wood chips? Or can I transplant and put the wood chips around?
Great video, but I'm really interested in that cob oven in the background. How's that working out?
miss your videos
Hey Esther. Great video... we just started planting. Great weather . In Texas . Rain and sunshine tomorrow.
Have a question. He said he does the back to Eden Garden.. and Has no weeds.. do you water your garden with water sprinklers or drip hoses.. ..or just by hand .. thanks so much .
Blessing 👩🌾
Celine Bridges we use drip hose in or garden but that is not a requirement and you will find that once the plants are established you will need much less water if any at all.
Is there a specific type of wood to use for this gardening? I've heard there are some chip mulch that have crap in them as well.
Thanks for the info!!! That's a great help!
Rick Mitchell avoid black walnut and maple too I think.
Ruth Stout? What are your thoughts on her? I feel she is overlooked as far as a deep mulch garden.
By no means am I trying to scorch the content of the video. My comment was triggered by the beginning comments that called it something different than the back to Eden garden. Awesome video!!!! Peace and Love
How do you keep the wood chips from sucking the nitrogen out of the soil? Don't the wood chips need to break down for a couple of years before they start to release their nutrients and stop extracting them from the soil. Also, what pests can be harbored in the mulch? Great video and keep up the good work.
Thomas someone else commented about something I missed. You don't till the chips into the soil. You just let them lay on top. That way they are not robbing the soil of nutrients. They keep the moisture in, the weeds out and over time break down and release nutrients into the soil.
Came by to check out your channel get signed up for your free book that is going to be given to someone by Deep South Homestead TH-cam channel.
I can't get any wood chips. Could I use wood shavings that you buy at tractor trailer. For animals
karen catalano I use fallen leaves and thin layer of grass clippings as wood chips are not readily available and have wonderful results.
You can use anything for mulch, but keep in mind that wood shavings will break down to create a high acid soil. If you are using wood shavings you'll want to balance their high carbon content with something that is high nitrogen, like animal manure or blood meal. It's possible that leaves and grass clippings may be a better way to go.
wood chips have become rare and expensive here, since they are in use to produce 'green' electricity...
Oh, that's interesting! We still have quite a lot around here, but then we're also probably not the best at being "green." laugh/cry face
in fact I think using the wood chips for the garden is greener than burning them to produce electricity
Are you guys like living in the middle of nowhere?