Two of my older beds are filled with worms. I now use a garden fork to loosen up the soil where I am planting because I felt I was harming my worms with the trowel. So I am with you on the excitement they bring! Oh for the simple pleasures in life! I enjoy the love and enthusiasm you share with us about farming. Your care of the land and animals just warms my heart! It can be done humanely and you and a few others show us how! Down with inhumane factory farms and back to family farms where for the time being animals enjoy freedom to move about and get sunshine and fresh air! All your animals are healthy, happy and thriving under your care and it will show in the quality of the food you produce. I'd say "job done well you two"!
June, thank you so much for those kind words of encouragement. There is just something magical about being a part of the cycle of life and watching barren land become fruitful. Oh and good call on using a fork vs a trowel. Once we have softer soil we're working in I need to start doing the same to save these little critters!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm the fork I have has thick tines. I usually have to stand on it to force it into the ground and wiggle it back and forth to get it into my hard soil I am still trying to amend. I find it amazing to find worms in the damp deeper clay. Don't know how they do it!!
Hello from the US! We have a lot of viewers in desert regions around the world who understand the challenge we face in this type of environment. It's definitely not what you typically find folks dealing with, especially on media outlets like this.
Wow, that's amazing worm activity. Exciting indeed :) and I'm sure it's so satisfying to know that all your careful planning and soil building is showing "fruit" (in the form of worms as well as in the form of fruit). I love how Cuddle Tom is your site supervisor behind you in so many shots. :) Blessings - have a great week!
*Wooooww!!! You are a great guy my friend EDGE OF NOWHERE FARM, but more importantly a good teacher. You also came across as very genuine and willing to share all that you know. May you grow in wisdom, I wish you abundant crops, happy gardeniiiiiiiiiing!!!*
We have been really impressed with that crop. Not only the wonderful fodder for livestock and worms (another livestock IMO), but also the fact that it seems it may be perennial for us!
I had a bunch of blackberry starts after I did my spring pruning. Had to put some of those starts in my dormant (shaded) beds and when I pulled them out last weekend to transplant them to my newly constructed Mtn raised beds, I discovered a TON of worms in the garden soil from the Phx gardens. I hope they like their new home in the mtns 😂.
Watched your sorghum video first and wow, I love how educational your vids are for amateur gardeners like me. One of my favorite things to do is to build soil in this desert. I recently bought some worms so I might try your and Lori's technique when it comes to building soil via worms and sorghum. Keep em coming!
Glad you're enjoying these. I like to think of nearly all of us as amateurs to some extent. I suppose master gardeners with decades of experience not so much, but we're right there with you trying to learn as much as we can!
Where do you get your worms and can you get them regularly thru out the year? How would you “plant”(lol) them? Any particular food or vitamins needed to put out with them and should I large amount of worms and put them out all together? I am very much NEW to this and thank you so much for all your help and information.
@@kennhurt5636 these worms were basically "transplanted" from the old farm through some potted trees we brought over to this one. Not sure how they showed up over there. They feed on decaying plant and animal waste, so as long as they have cover, water and food they'll be happy anywhere. We add them to our garden beds and also our composting manure piles, so we can transplant them every time we fertilize. If you're trying to jumpstart your worm activity, the easiest way to do so is buying worms from a bait shop (like Walmart) and finding a home for them.
Hey Duane, if you strip the all the leaves except for the top off the tomatoes and plant them sideways leaving the top leaves exposed, it will create a stronger root system and better able to handle the heat. Just little tip I learned many years ago.
Thanks for that tip Turrelle. We've had some limited success with tomatoes and that may have been part of the issue in the past. I did notice the Fall tomatoes sending roots down when the branches eventually started to crawl along the bed.
I see that I’m not the only person who tickles the roots while planting. Worms are great for building, fertilizing and aerating soil, and really tell you how healthy your soil is. I’m planting some sun chokes tomorrow from last months harvest, we love them and thank you for sharing.
Yeah, the root mass at the bottom always makes me a little nervous. Especially if they're wrapping at all. How do you prepare your sun chokes? I've heard you need to be careful eating to many as they can be....explosive!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm lol, our kids call them fartachokes but we love them in the air fryer and it’s not too bad. I just plant them and they grow especially after they already started rooting which we achieve by putting them in a bucket with moist shredded cardboard.
Hey Richard! Yes, we were really happy with all that worm activity happening over the Winter. Can't wait to see how this plot of land develops over time!
New subscriber here... ya'll are inspiring and wonderful teachers. Thank you!! I'm loving your videos and learning a lot. I'm in Southern California, Slab City and my goal is to create a self sustaining permaculture food oasis for my camp (Flamingo) and ultimately for my whole community. Moringa trees will be prominent and I'm focused mostly on perennials. Also I'll be focusing on fodder for my small flock of chickens. I'm trying to farm meal worms and crickets for my flock too. Using the deep layer compost method with straw in their coop and hen house. I'm making charged bio-char using an aquarium aerator, fish emulsion, liquid kelp, worm tea, black strap molasses and urine(mine). I've had great success with gardens in the past, but that was back in Central Illinois. Gardening here in the desert is a huge learning curve. I've had a higher failure rate than I expected, but I'm passionate about feeding people, especially people that are malnourished. I'm also passionate about using food as medicine and not allow it to be poison. (I'm keto for 3 and a half years, reversed diabetes, went from 4 injections per day to none in 6 weeks, lost 70 pounds and kept it off, got off of all blood pressure/heart medications within 6 months, all through keto, intermittent/extended fasting, eating certain foods that have specific healing, anti-inflammatory, cancer fighting, and homemade fermented foods. I want to help people heal, especially here in Slab City, some of the most impoverished people, the most impoverished County in the United States.
William, you got it goin on man. Congrats on getting healthy. It's amazing how simple the answer is (proper eating and nutrition), but the information is suppressed from those how need it most. That's one of our main reasons for doing what you see here. Much like you, it's not just for us, but also the community we're starting to see that comes to us for natural food and also for the information/skills to do it themselves. I'm glad you found us and please reach out with any questions or to share what you have going on. Many times, folks see these comments and get inspired by what everyone out there is doing! We do as well.
I would be thrilled to see even 1 worm. I have started making little worm habitats in some of my beds. I have been putting worms from my indoor worm bin out in them. I will keep putting kitchen scraps in them and keeping them moist in hopes of them spreading out over the whole place.
That's the key right there Debbie. If you make a comfy place for them to live with some food, water and shelter they'll reward you with that fertility!
To plant undetermined grow tomato you can make a wide role put the tomato in horizontal, cut the underground leafs and cover with dirt, left for fingers size above the ground, that whay all the stream under the ground will grow root, that will make your plant stronger
Thanks for the planting tips for tomatoes Diego. We had a few folks suggesting the same thing and we'll need to try that with our next tomato transplants.
Had I known...Porter's tomato seedlings are growing well, and always, I tend to over plant. To fertilize sunchokes is to take your life in your hands. Mebbe; but you have livestock, so that's a definite plus. I gave one tiny piece to a man once, and told him, do not fertilize! He asked other folks, and did what he wanted. A few years later he rounded on me and complained they were taking over his yard. Watermelon! I forgot to start them. Maybe 50, huh? Keep ten and give the rest away. Gosh darn mulberry hasn't bloomed once since it went in 4 years ago. Those peeps look great. Hope to see them enjoying the pasture life. Hasta, kids!
@@turrelleowens4594 When checking the garden this morning (we got rain!) i saw a few blooms. And then did like the old-times, and gave the tree a few whacks with a stick (not AKA Lizzy Borden, but pretty good) to damage some cambium. That also helps because the tree 'thinks' it's being damaged and needs to reproduce ASAP. Yeah, I never saw mulberries produce better than after being ravaged by hungry goats :) I should buy one just to keep the Lady Banks roses under control. In 2 years, they outgrew the garage.
I'm hoping those sun chokes do well. If nothing else to give the pigs a cool snack once we start working on that livestock acre they're destined for. Thank you for sharing them with us! As for your mulberry, I'm surprised to hear that. All but one variety here is pushing out fruit along with the first shoots, so I really don't know what's going on with yours. Have they fruited well in the past?
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm No blooms, but I saw a few on one branch! We were in the path of wildfires for 2 years, along with the drought. The tree hardly grew till the monsoons hit last summer, then bolted to over 10 feet with over a dozen side shoots. I told the grandkids (the little ones) the tree must have been watching Jack and the Beanstalk and tried to grow like that :) Those pigs will love the tubers and the turkeys the tops. I saw you fenced them in and that's a good idea. Termite the (garden) terrorist eats the leaves. No green leaves since maybe October, but he still goes and looks.
Dan, that sounds like a FANTASTIC idea. I'm usually more of a pan fisherman (bluegill, crappie), but nothing quite like some fried catfish and hush puppies!!
Hey Carrie, Rosie is the new baby goat we bought. She is being bottle feed, so we haven't brought her home yet. I don't think we have talked much about her yet either. She is adorable and we can't wait for her to be here. You will love her!!
My sun chokes grow like weeds everywhere I plant them in Tucson. They make great wind brakes and are incredible bio mass generators. Mexican sun flowers also work great for the same purpose and are perennial
That's great to hear with those sun chokes. So far these are doing really well. No flowers yet, but I imagine they're coming soon. Thank you for the suggestion on the Mexican sun flower. We've had another viewer suggest those before.
Where are you buying your chicken tractor from and all of your aluminum pipe and cage wire from? I really appreciate all your videos. Thank you so much.
Hey there Kenn. We built those a few years back, but we sourced all of the materials from Home Depot. Prices have gone up quite a bit and it can be hit or miss to find everything, but that was our source.
I love the worm activity I think I will do that were my trees are I do have about 1 ft at least of mulch going on . Do You go to people house for consultations I'm about 15 min away from You . Love watching You.
Hey there Enisa. If you're keeping that soil moisture consistent in the mulch around your trees and fertilizing with manure or something similar that they can feed on, they'll be very happy around those trees! We do offer consultations, I'll link that page on our website here for more info; www.edgeofnowherefarm.com/consulting
We haven't had them before, but I hear they're pretty good. I've read you need to be careful not consuming too many at once as things get get a little "rumbly" if you're not careful!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Exactly. Animals can eat them just fine but Jerusalem artichokes are only used for survival food mainly in humans. We can't process them correctly for some reasons. Great animal fodder though.
So awesome seeing all your growth and worm activity on the farm!! Question for yall, as always! My apples and peaches are leafing out all over as well as a little lower then the scaffolding branches i have. Should I prune those in order to maximize growth higher up? My peaches are starting to put fruit out and I'm sure my apples are not far behind should I cut those off now to make the trees put maximum growth in the roots and branches? Fyi I just planted my trees this past Oct. Thank you for again for making such fun and informative videos!! Kyah and I are so pumped to see you again in a couple weeks.
Hey Jordan! Glad to hear your trees are taking off here in the Spring. It's always exciting to see those trees come back to life! We always thin all the fruit from the trees during the first year to give them a chance to send down roots and concentrate on development. As for the lower branching, that's up to you. However, we usually let the trees grow out everywhere that first year. Leaf matter is what drives root growth, so the more leaves the better. Looking forward to seeing you guys here in a couple of weeks!
You know about that avocado trick for worms, right? You could probably youtube it. I believe it's meant to help them reproduce. I think the worms help till and fertilize also (i know you know the fertilize part though, you mentioned it this video). Sorry if i sent you this already. Also, thanks for the care you guys put into things being better for everyone, I'm planning to watch all of these videos eventually. Hopefully you guys can research and maybe even record it if you haven't tried it yet also, i assumed some of the tillage could be from enzymes they leave breaking down minerals(rocks) over time, but i need to do more research myself.
Hey William. I'm not familiar with a trick involving avocados. We only find worms digging (tilling) into the soil in our garden beds. Otherwise, we typically find them worming their way through our mulch piles and the soil that is created form the mulch we have on the ground as it breaks down. I have yet to see them trying to dig into our regular desert soil. Over time I'm hoping they will though!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm it's basically just halving an avocado and setting it with the inside facing downward so that the nutrients are readily available to them and the worms should reproduce within it. I believe it's supposed to be full of worms after they've already eaten everything but the skin. I don't know if the nutrients are necessary to kickstart their reproductive cycles or not but what I've looked up was pretty interesting. It made much sense to me that food that's more similar to what it seems like their bodies might secrete would be more helpful in making whole new ones, especially since reproductive cells seem to travel well using the encasement of other secretions. God bless you guys and thanks again for the great content
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm i just stumbled across research stating that avocados contain the "essential amino acids" humans need, i put that phrase in quotations because i believe what they mean by that phrase is that the human body doesn't produce them and they are necessary to be obtained through the diet.
@@williampatrickfurey that's my understanding of that terminology as well. It doesn't mean it contains enough of those to sustain life, but those are the amino acids that need to be consumed because we're unable to make them ourselves.
We live in Yuma Arizona. We are a small farm 3 acres. I need to grow fodder for the pigs and the goats the chickens. Very interested in how to establish the bed for worms.
Hey Richard. We don't have a specific bed just for worms, but I'll link the video that showed how we came about to have what you're seeing in this episode; th-cam.com/video/AI-BO7wCR8Q/w-d-xo.html The key is having them wherever you can, so they continue to build soil for you. As long as they have food and water with adequate cover, they're happy and will multiply!
and to be sure you get extra rooting on tomato plants, pull the botom set of leaves off stem, lay the plant at an angle (not straight up), add teaspoon of epsom salts to hole and then cover with soil...extra roots make a stronger plant and it is thought that the epsom salt added encourages root growth....per my moms success's
We had another viewer suggest the same with the tomato. We did go back and pile additional soil on the plants and they're growing like crazy. I vaguely remember reading about Epsom salt, but haven't tried that either!
Hey Nancy. I do have a link for the fish emulsion for you here; amzn.to/3ujGSky This is a link for the same B-1 we use, but we prefer to buy it from Home Depot as it's less than half the price; amzn.to/3qnnPoq
Hi All, my family inherited my great great grandfathers property at the foot of Tucson's "A" Mountain near the Mission Garden. The land was super hard to dig into as it had some hardcore calichi. Your videos are educational but how do you transform the pure calichi into something workable? We are talking white chalky calichi. Any feedback is great! Muito obrigado!
I'm really glad to hear you guys are hanging onto your Grandpa's legacy. Many folks these days wind up selling those off! As to caliche, we it as well anywhere from 1 - 3' down. For us, we simply plant into the soil above it and let the tree roots (or other deep rooted plants like Sorghum) do the work for us over time (along with heavy mulch). If you're finding it more shallow your best bet will be to plant on top of it, otherwise you'll be brining in a lot of material combine with the caliche "topsoil". That would need to be native soil (easier and less expensive) or compost. Are you wanting to plant trees, annual crops, or pasture?
in the bed where you have the tomato planted. How long do you run the irrigation in the summer? I have a very simular cinder block bed with drip tape and I lost all my tomatoes this summer.
Hey Nathaniel. We don't try to over-Summer our tomatoes, so ours are all gone now as well. You would need shade cloth at minimum to attempt it as watering is not typically the only issue. That being said, we do keep cowpeas, sweet potatoes and peppers over the summer, so we run our drip tape every morning for about 20 minutes in those beds.
We have a couple of arborist that have free access to property when they have material that they can't take somewhere closer. One we met through Chip Drop and one is a neighbor down the road that we met from seeing his truck and stopping.
Did you have trouble establishing your worms at first due to the intense summer heat & do you see worm activity during the summer or do they go dormant? I live in the California low desert & our summers reach 120 so i've been hesitant to try worms.
We have not had any issues with keeping them happy all year. The key is the deep mulch layer which is where they reside. That keeps the soil temp consistent throughout the year. In fact, we've probed the temps and as little as 6" under the wood chips the temp goes from 120 to about 85 degrees in mid-summer!
Great question! We will sell some, like peaches, apples, figs, mulberries, possibly some others. We use a lot with smoothies, juicing and wine making! :) We only promote things for sale thru our customer email list, so if you are interested when we do have something be sure to join that! www.edgeofnowherefarm.com/
Try look up Christmas Melon, toad skin, they are great keepers check them out, open pollinated, I saw them bought one, wow great flavor, keeper, as well try Armenian cukes, thrive, I'll say it again thrive in heat, great flavor, but be patient, they will bloom, bloom some more, you'll think, no fruit set, and then boom, takes 2-3 weeks and they set, it's just how they roll. Need trellis, longer than long English, can hang on the vine real well. Try them
Great suggestions here Jo. Hadn't heard of the Christmas melon before, but the Armenian cukes are on our list to try. The challenge for us on those is a large enough trellising system to hold the fruit!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I first used the cattle panels at a angle as they would weave, on vertical, the angled drop thru, easier to pick too, I did mine in a raised bed 30" so it's easy, but home use only, this year trying on a very tall trellis that I built for visual blocking wall 12'H x22'W that is super sturdy, it will eventually be a Lady Banks thornless wall, but will trim and prune for the cukes, the melon are extra super keepers, they say almost squash, read up on them, they like heat, ripen late, open pollinated, the fruit that isn't ripe can lay out there til we get frost Dec 20th usually, and not spoil, I chop them for our few chickens I'm not sure I don't watch much TH-cam, just stumble across stuff, but if you do sales the melon will be great addition, Xmas melons local, good ad for you.
Hey Bert! We actually brought these over from the old farm in some potted trees we were holding for this property. I'm really not sure where they came from over there as we bought that home new and there was literally nothing that had ever been in the ground prior to us planting there. I assume they were freeloaders in one of the many potted plants we put in the ground there. We've have been diligent about moving them around the property here and giving them a comfortable home wherever we transplant them!
Hey James. We're just outside Phoenix, about 1 hour from downtown heading NW. The aquifer we're on is very stable as it's protected (we're all limited on how much water we can pull) and is filled by the Hassayampa River.
If you really want to geek out and blow your mind, you can find on TH-cam “Regreening the desert with John D. Liu VPRO documentary 2012”. Being a desert bloke you’ll really love what can be done.
Good catch there Eric. We haven't thinned quite yet. We usually let them get to about a quarter in diameter and then thin. That being said, I think we're probably there on those Florda Prince peaches. We only have another 45 days or so until harvest!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm yeah mine are likely the same age as yours…maybe an inch in diameter or so. Ive thinned a few of mine but def gotta get more thinned asap.
Worms are one of those helpers we're always trying to encourage....everywhere! Food and water and they're happy campers making wonderful fertilizer right where we need it!
wondering if you soak seeds before planting...if so....look at how Dr(s) Johnson-Su pre soak with compost and (yes) milk....Johnson-Su bio-reactors.....
Hi! Nice video! 👍🏻 I live in the Phoenix area also and was told by a master gardener a few years ago that if you want to grow tomatoes from seed here in AZ, plant seeds at Thanksgiving for best harvest timing!
I have volunteer tomato plants popup every year in my west phoenix yard. The varieties are all a little different, but they do very well for me. They popup any time from spring thru early "fall"
That's sounds about right. We have a chart we printed years ago from the UofA Extension that lists planting dates and we figure a good 6-8 weeks prior would work. However, that's quite a bit further back for us. The last few years we've seen frost right up through the first week of March.
Hey Keith. We're on well water here with existing water restrictions that we abide by. The city (Phoenix) has no water restrictions currently, but is considering imposing some. They depend on Colorado River water, so it's a bit more dicey.
Harry and Lloyd had the best Worm Farm.
Oh my goodness! Neighbor kid had a "Pretty bird" that I imagine liked that worm farm too!
Two of my older beds are filled with worms. I now use a garden fork to loosen up the soil where I am planting because I felt I was harming my worms with the trowel. So I am with you on the excitement they bring! Oh for the simple pleasures in life! I enjoy the love and enthusiasm you share with us about farming. Your care of the land and animals just warms my heart! It can be done humanely and you and a few others show us how! Down with inhumane factory farms and back to family farms where for the time being animals enjoy freedom to move about and get sunshine and fresh air! All your animals are healthy, happy and thriving under your care and it will show in the quality of the food you produce. I'd say "job done well you two"!
June, thank you so much for those kind words of encouragement. There is just something magical about being a part of the cycle of life and watching barren land become fruitful. Oh and good call on using a fork vs a trowel. Once we have softer soil we're working in I need to start doing the same to save these little critters!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm the fork I have has thick tines. I usually have to stand on it to force it into the ground and wiggle it back and forth to get it into my hard soil I am still trying to amend. I find it amazing to find worms in the damp deeper clay. Don't know how they do it!!
come from a semi-desert african country of Botswana i am so happy to have found an american youtuber with similar soils and weather.
Hello from the US! We have a lot of viewers in desert regions around the world who understand the challenge we face in this type of environment. It's definitely not what you typically find folks dealing with, especially on media outlets like this.
Wow, that's amazing worm activity. Exciting indeed :) and I'm sure it's so satisfying to know that all your careful planning and soil building is showing "fruit" (in the form of worms as well as in the form of fruit). I love how Cuddle Tom is your site supervisor behind you in so many shots. :) Blessings - have a great week!
Good catch on Cuddle Tom supervising the dig site. He will literally follow us around everywhere making sure we don't mess things up!
*Wooooww!!! You are a great guy my friend EDGE OF NOWHERE FARM, but more importantly a good teacher. You also came across as very genuine and willing to share all that you know. May you grow in wisdom, I wish you abundant crops, happy gardeniiiiiiiiiing!!!*
Thank you for the kind words. Hopefully folks will get the itch to plant something of their own when they see how simple this can be!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm You're welcome, it's been a pleasure
Nice! I love having a mulch pile. It breeds worms like crazy. Every gardener should have one.
Couldn't agree more with that one! We seem to add mulch to just about everything!
Your soil building is something to opera about!
It's getting there, but I have to admit, I was very surprised to see that much worm activity over the Winter!
We're watching so of course we geek out!
Yeah, I suppose that would be the case. It's the simple things in life, like sliced bread and, well, worms in your soil!
The handful of worms reminded me of a Horror movie I saw in the theater when I was a kid. "Squirm" I'll never forget the worms in the face.
Ok, now I feel like a missed a key part of childhood. I've never seen that film!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Low budget goodness. In the 80's I use to love getting FANGORIA at the local bookstore.
@@slamboy66 ah yes. I remember that well!
Wow. So encouraging and exciting
Thank you Charity, it really is amazing that we find worms everywhere now!
that sorghum doing wonders out there
We have been really impressed with that crop. Not only the wonderful fodder for livestock and worms (another livestock IMO), but also the fact that it seems it may be perennial for us!
Worms are the best!
Aren't they though! We always get excited when we see them crawling around.
More worms, more nugget tractors, blooming fruit! When do we make a koi pond?
With our new arrivals next month we may have to think seriously about the plans for adding a pond....or two or more.
I had a bunch of blackberry starts after I did my spring pruning. Had to put some of those starts in my dormant (shaded) beds and when I pulled them out last weekend to transplant them to my newly constructed Mtn raised beds, I discovered a TON of worms in the garden soil from the Phx gardens. I hope they like their new home in the mtns 😂.
Woohoo!! You gotta love freeloaders who can actually pull their own weight!
Gand Rising ✊🏾 guys. Hope all is well. 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
Doing well here. Lots of green popping up with the warmer weather!
Thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it!
Watched your sorghum video first and wow, I love how educational your vids are for amateur gardeners like me. One of my favorite things to do is to build soil in this desert. I recently bought some worms so I might try your and Lori's technique when it comes to building soil via worms and sorghum. Keep em coming!
Glad you're enjoying these. I like to think of nearly all of us as amateurs to some extent. I suppose master gardeners with decades of experience not so much, but we're right there with you trying to learn as much as we can!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm need... fastigiate lumbardy popular
Where do you get your worms and can you get them regularly thru out the year? How would you “plant”(lol) them? Any particular food or vitamins needed to put out with them and should I large amount of worms and put them out all together? I am very much NEW to this and thank you so much for all your help and information.
@@kennhurt5636 these worms were basically "transplanted" from the old farm through some potted trees we brought over to this one. Not sure how they showed up over there. They feed on decaying plant and animal waste, so as long as they have cover, water and food they'll be happy anywhere. We add them to our garden beds and also our composting manure piles, so we can transplant them every time we fertilize. If you're trying to jumpstart your worm activity, the easiest way to do so is buying worms from a bait shop (like Walmart) and finding a home for them.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Thank you for the information I sure appreciate both of you
Thats some awesome soil your building!
Thanks Kelly! We were very impressed at how well this area did too!
Those trees are doing amazing! So impressed with their growth.
They're starting to come around. It's funny, we get so excited this time of year when the trees finally start coming back to life!
Hey Duane, if you strip the all the leaves except for the top off the tomatoes and plant them sideways leaving the top leaves exposed, it will create a stronger root system and better able to handle the heat. Just little tip I learned many years ago.
Thanks for that tip Turrelle. We've had some limited success with tomatoes and that may have been part of the issue in the past. I did notice the Fall tomatoes sending roots down when the branches eventually started to crawl along the bed.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Those little while hairs on the stems will turn into roots so definitely works in your favor.
@@turrelleowens4594 makes total sense.
A good crop of food is really cool, but, the amount of worm activity is amazing, good job!
Have to agree with you there. Getting one good crop is something. Building soil for a lifetime of production is something altogether different!
I see that I’m not the only person who tickles the roots while planting. Worms are great for building, fertilizing and aerating soil, and really tell you how healthy your soil is. I’m planting some sun chokes tomorrow from last months harvest, we love them and thank you for sharing.
Yeah, the root mass at the bottom always makes me a little nervous. Especially if they're wrapping at all. How do you prepare your sun chokes? I've heard you need to be careful eating to many as they can be....explosive!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm lol, our kids call them fartachokes but we love them in the air fryer and it’s not too bad. I just plant them and they grow especially after they already started rooting which we achieve by putting them in a bucket with moist shredded cardboard.
@@danielfisch655 as is usually the case, moderation is the key!
Love to see those worms growing in the soil.
Hey Richard! Yes, we were really happy with all that worm activity happening over the Winter. Can't wait to see how this plot of land develops over time!
New subscriber here... ya'll are inspiring and wonderful teachers. Thank you!! I'm loving your videos and learning a lot. I'm in Southern California, Slab City and my goal is to create a self sustaining permaculture food oasis for my camp (Flamingo) and ultimately for my whole community. Moringa trees will be prominent and I'm focused mostly on perennials. Also I'll be focusing on fodder for my small flock of chickens. I'm trying to farm meal worms and crickets for my flock too. Using the deep layer compost method with straw in their coop and hen house. I'm making charged bio-char using an aquarium aerator, fish emulsion, liquid kelp, worm tea, black strap molasses and urine(mine). I've had great success with gardens in the past, but that was back in Central Illinois. Gardening here in the desert is a huge learning curve. I've had a higher failure rate than I expected, but I'm passionate about feeding people, especially people that are malnourished. I'm also passionate about using food as medicine and not allow it to be poison. (I'm keto for 3 and a half years, reversed diabetes, went from 4 injections per day to none in 6 weeks, lost 70 pounds and kept it off, got off of all blood pressure/heart medications within 6 months, all through keto, intermittent/extended fasting, eating certain foods that have specific healing, anti-inflammatory, cancer fighting, and homemade fermented foods. I want to help people heal, especially here in Slab City, some of the most impoverished people, the most impoverished County in the United States.
William, you got it goin on man. Congrats on getting healthy. It's amazing how simple the answer is (proper eating and nutrition), but the information is suppressed from those how need it most. That's one of our main reasons for doing what you see here. Much like you, it's not just for us, but also the community we're starting to see that comes to us for natural food and also for the information/skills to do it themselves. I'm glad you found us and please reach out with any questions or to share what you have going on. Many times, folks see these comments and get inspired by what everyone out there is doing! We do as well.
Great!
If I may ask were you also on any exercise routine to lose all that weight in 6 months? Tnx
I would be thrilled to see even 1 worm. I have started making little worm habitats in some of my beds. I have been putting worms from my indoor worm bin out in them. I will keep putting kitchen scraps in them and keeping them moist in hopes of them spreading out over the whole place.
That's the key right there Debbie. If you make a comfy place for them to live with some food, water and shelter they'll reward you with that fertility!
To plant undetermined grow tomato you can make a wide role put the tomato in horizontal, cut the underground leafs and cover with dirt, left for fingers size above the ground, that whay all the stream under the ground will grow root, that will make your plant stronger
Thanks for the planting tips for tomatoes Diego. We had a few folks suggesting the same thing and we'll need to try that with our next tomato transplants.
Had I known...Porter's tomato seedlings are growing well, and always, I tend to over plant.
To fertilize sunchokes is to take your life in your hands. Mebbe; but you have livestock, so that's a definite plus. I gave one tiny piece to a man once, and told him, do not fertilize! He asked other folks, and did what he wanted. A few years later he rounded on me and complained they were taking over his yard.
Watermelon! I forgot to start them. Maybe 50, huh? Keep ten and give the rest away.
Gosh darn mulberry hasn't bloomed once since it went in 4 years ago.
Those peeps look great. Hope to see them enjoying the pasture life. Hasta, kids!
Strip the leaves off and the mulberry will fruit. Theyre a bit finicky until they feel happy in the place they're planted.
@@turrelleowens4594 When checking the garden this morning (we got rain!) i saw a few blooms. And then did like the old-times, and gave the tree a few whacks with a stick (not AKA Lizzy Borden, but pretty good) to damage some cambium. That also helps because the tree 'thinks' it's being damaged and needs to reproduce ASAP. Yeah, I never saw mulberries produce better than after being ravaged by hungry goats :) I should buy one just to keep the Lady Banks roses under control. In 2 years, they outgrew the garage.
@@marschlosser4540 Awesome...I have to keep that goat idea handy in case I need it some day. Lol
I'm hoping those sun chokes do well. If nothing else to give the pigs a cool snack once we start working on that livestock acre they're destined for. Thank you for sharing them with us!
As for your mulberry, I'm surprised to hear that. All but one variety here is pushing out fruit along with the first shoots, so I really don't know what's going on with yours. Have they fruited well in the past?
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm No blooms, but I saw a few on one branch! We were in the path of wildfires for 2 years, along with the drought. The tree hardly grew till the monsoons hit last summer, then bolted to over 10 feet with over a dozen side shoots. I told the grandkids (the little ones) the tree must have been watching Jack and the Beanstalk and tried to grow like that :)
Those pigs will love the tubers and the turkeys the tops. I saw you fenced them in and that's a good idea. Termite the (garden) terrorist eats the leaves. No green leaves since maybe October, but he still goes and looks.
looks like some worms need to "food chain up".....time to go catfishing!
Dan, that sounds like a FANTASTIC idea. I'm usually more of a pan fisherman (bluegill, crappie), but nothing quite like some fried catfish and hush puppies!!
I thought I was all caught up on videos, but apparently not. Who is Rosie???
Hey Carrie, Rosie is the new baby goat we bought. She is being bottle feed, so we haven't brought her home yet. I don't think we have talked much about her yet either. She is adorable and we can't wait for her to be here. You will love her!!
🎉🎉🎉🎉worms
Gotta love 'em!
Another awesome video! It is great to Thanks guys for sharing.
Hey Lucas! Glad you enjoyed this one.
My sun chokes grow like weeds everywhere I plant them in Tucson. They make great wind brakes and are incredible bio mass generators. Mexican sun flowers also work great for the same purpose and are perennial
That's great to hear with those sun chokes. So far these are doing really well. No flowers yet, but I imagine they're coming soon. Thank you for the suggestion on the Mexican sun flower. We've had another viewer suggest those before.
Where are you buying your chicken tractor from and all of your aluminum pipe and cage wire from? I really appreciate all your videos. Thank you so much.
Hey there Kenn. We built those a few years back, but we sourced all of the materials from Home Depot. Prices have gone up quite a bit and it can be hit or miss to find everything, but that was our source.
Looks like y'all have a worm farm also, awesome.
That's what it felt like today. In fact, I almost added that to the title, but didn't want to step on any toes!
I love the worm activity I think I will do that were my trees are I do have about 1 ft at least of mulch going on . Do You go to people house for consultations I'm about 15 min away from You . Love watching You.
Hey there Enisa. If you're keeping that soil moisture consistent in the mulch around your trees and fertilizing with manure or something similar that they can feed on, they'll be very happy around those trees! We do offer consultations, I'll link that page on our website here for more info;
www.edgeofnowherefarm.com/consulting
Jerusalem artichokes are yummy!
We haven't had them before, but I hear they're pretty good. I've read you need to be careful not consuming too many at once as things get get a little "rumbly" if you're not careful!
They're also called fartichokes from the massive gas and knots in your stomach from them. Eat them sparingly or you'll be sorry.
@@turrelleowens4594 so maybe feed a few to the pigs and watch the fun!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Exactly. Animals can eat them just fine but Jerusalem artichokes are only used for survival food mainly in humans. We can't process them correctly for some reasons. Great animal fodder though.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm They've always been kind of expensive so I didn't eat much but never had any digestive issues.
Another excellent video, Lot to learn. Both are hard working. Do you have pomegranate tree in your orchard. You had pomegranate tree of your old home
Hey Abid! Yes, we do have pomegranates here on this farm. We actually have 3 varieties - Wonderful, Angel Red and Grenada.
Duane havine a spice fever dream about Shai Hulud. "I am just geeking out about these worms."
Oh my goodness, that is so true! Funny side note, our last name is Hebert...not far from Herbert..as in Frank Herbert, Dune creator!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Whispers: "They know about the spice mellonge."
@@gm2407 🤣
So awesome seeing all your growth and worm activity on the farm!!
Question for yall, as always! My apples and peaches are leafing out all over as well as a little lower then the scaffolding branches i have. Should I prune those in order to maximize growth higher up?
My peaches are starting to put fruit out and I'm sure my apples are not far behind should I cut those off now to make the trees put maximum growth in the roots and branches? Fyi I just planted my trees this past Oct.
Thank you for again for making such fun and informative videos!! Kyah and I are so pumped to see you again in a couple weeks.
Hey Jordan! Glad to hear your trees are taking off here in the Spring. It's always exciting to see those trees come back to life! We always thin all the fruit from the trees during the first year to give them a chance to send down roots and concentrate on development. As for the lower branching, that's up to you. However, we usually let the trees grow out everywhere that first year. Leaf matter is what drives root growth, so the more leaves the better. Looking forward to seeing you guys here in a couple of weeks!
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Thanks Valerie!
You know about that avocado trick for worms, right? You could probably youtube it. I believe it's meant to help them reproduce. I think the worms help till and fertilize also (i know you know the fertilize part though, you mentioned it this video). Sorry if i sent you this already. Also, thanks for the care you guys put into things being better for everyone, I'm planning to watch all of these videos eventually. Hopefully you guys can research and maybe even record it if you haven't tried it yet also, i assumed some of the tillage could be from enzymes they leave breaking down minerals(rocks) over time, but i need to do more research myself.
Hey William. I'm not familiar with a trick involving avocados. We only find worms digging (tilling) into the soil in our garden beds. Otherwise, we typically find them worming their way through our mulch piles and the soil that is created form the mulch we have on the ground as it breaks down. I have yet to see them trying to dig into our regular desert soil. Over time I'm hoping they will though!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm it's basically just halving an avocado and setting it with the inside facing downward so that the nutrients are readily available to them and the worms should reproduce within it. I believe it's supposed to be full of worms after they've already eaten everything but the skin. I don't know if the nutrients are necessary to kickstart their reproductive cycles or not but what I've looked up was pretty interesting. It made much sense to me that food that's more similar to what it seems like their bodies might secrete would be more helpful in making whole new ones, especially since reproductive cells seem to travel well using the encasement of other secretions. God bless you guys and thanks again for the great content
@@williampatrickfurey ah, ok. That definitely makes sense.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm i just stumbled across research stating that avocados contain the "essential amino acids" humans need, i put that phrase in quotations because i believe what they mean by that phrase is that the human body doesn't produce them and they are necessary to be obtained through the diet.
@@williampatrickfurey that's my understanding of that terminology as well. It doesn't mean it contains enough of those to sustain life, but those are the amino acids that need to be consumed because we're unable to make them ourselves.
We live in Yuma Arizona. We are a small farm 3 acres. I need to grow fodder for the pigs and the goats the chickens. Very interested in how to establish the bed for worms.
Hey Richard. We don't have a specific bed just for worms, but I'll link the video that showed how we came about to have what you're seeing in this episode;
th-cam.com/video/AI-BO7wCR8Q/w-d-xo.html
The key is having them wherever you can, so they continue to build soil for you. As long as they have food and water with adequate cover, they're happy and will multiply!
and to be sure you get extra rooting on tomato plants, pull the botom set of leaves off stem, lay the plant at an angle (not straight up), add teaspoon of epsom salts to hole and then cover with soil...extra roots make a stronger plant and it is thought that the epsom salt added encourages root growth....per my moms success's
We had another viewer suggest the same with the tomato. We did go back and pile additional soil on the plants and they're growing like crazy. I vaguely remember reading about Epsom salt, but haven't tried that either!
See you use the B 1 and Fish emulsion. Do you have recommendations on Amazon for these
Hey Nancy. I do have a link for the fish emulsion for you here;
amzn.to/3ujGSky
This is a link for the same B-1 we use, but we prefer to buy it from Home Depot as it's less than half the price;
amzn.to/3qnnPoq
Hi All, my family inherited my great great grandfathers property at the foot of Tucson's "A" Mountain near the Mission Garden. The land was super hard to dig into as it had some hardcore calichi. Your videos are educational but how do you transform the pure calichi into something workable? We are talking white chalky calichi.
Any feedback is great! Muito obrigado!
I'm really glad to hear you guys are hanging onto your Grandpa's legacy. Many folks these days wind up selling those off! As to caliche, we it as well anywhere from 1 - 3' down. For us, we simply plant into the soil above it and let the tree roots (or other deep rooted plants like Sorghum) do the work for us over time (along with heavy mulch). If you're finding it more shallow your best bet will be to plant on top of it, otherwise you'll be brining in a lot of material combine with the caliche "topsoil". That would need to be native soil (easier and less expensive) or compost. Are you wanting to plant trees, annual crops, or pasture?
in the bed where you have the tomato planted. How long do you run the irrigation in the summer? I have a very simular cinder block bed with drip tape and I lost all my tomatoes this summer.
Hey Nathaniel. We don't try to over-Summer our tomatoes, so ours are all gone now as well. You would need shade cloth at minimum to attempt it as watering is not typically the only issue. That being said, we do keep cowpeas, sweet potatoes and peppers over the summer, so we run our drip tape every morning for about 20 minutes in those beds.
That's a lot of woodchip inputs, where do you get it all?
We have a couple of arborist that have free access to property when they have material that they can't take somewhere closer. One we met through Chip Drop and one is a neighbor down the road that we met from seeing his truck and stopping.
Did you have trouble establishing your worms at first due to the intense summer heat & do you see worm activity during the summer or do they go dormant? I live in the California low desert & our summers reach 120 so i've been hesitant to try worms.
We have not had any issues with keeping them happy all year. The key is the deep mulch layer which is where they reside. That keeps the soil temp consistent throughout the year. In fact, we've probed the temps and as little as 6" under the wood chips the temp goes from 120 to about 85 degrees in mid-summer!
Keep on taking care of those good-workin' worm bois! Edit: a future income stream?
We're trying to make happy homes for them in every spot we start working in. Even if it's not a direct income stream, they lead to the plants that do!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm as commercially grown, they just eat so much
Will you be selling most of your produce from your fruit trees?
Great question! We will sell some, like peaches, apples, figs, mulberries, possibly some others. We use a lot with smoothies, juicing and wine making! :) We only promote things for sale thru our customer email list, so if you are interested when we do have something be sure to join that!
www.edgeofnowherefarm.com/
Try look up Christmas Melon, toad skin, they are great keepers check them out, open pollinated, I saw them bought one, wow great flavor, keeper, as well try Armenian cukes, thrive, I'll say it again thrive in heat, great flavor, but be patient, they will bloom, bloom some more, you'll think, no fruit set, and then boom, takes 2-3 weeks and they set, it's just how they roll. Need trellis, longer than long English, can hang on the vine real well. Try them
Great suggestions here Jo. Hadn't heard of the Christmas melon before, but the Armenian cukes are on our list to try. The challenge for us on those is a large enough trellising system to hold the fruit!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm I first used the cattle panels at a angle as they would weave, on vertical, the angled drop thru, easier to pick too, I did mine in a raised bed 30" so it's easy, but home use only, this year trying on a very tall trellis that I built for visual blocking wall 12'H x22'W that is super sturdy, it will eventually be a Lady Banks thornless wall, but will trim and prune for the cukes, the melon are extra super keepers, they say almost squash, read up on them, they like heat, ripen late, open pollinated, the fruit that isn't ripe can lay out there til we get frost Dec 20th usually, and not spoil, I chop them for our few chickens
I'm not sure I don't watch much TH-cam, just stumble across stuff, but if you do sales the melon will be great addition, Xmas melons local, good ad for you.
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Love seeing those garden helpers in that soil!
Hi, newbie here and pardon my ignorance but where did all those worms come from? Where they in the pig manure like intestinal worms?
Hey Bert! We actually brought these over from the old farm in some potted trees we were holding for this property. I'm really not sure where they came from over there as we bought that home new and there was literally nothing that had ever been in the ground prior to us planting there. I assume they were freeloaders in one of the many potted plants we put in the ground there. We've have been diligent about moving them around the property here and giving them a comfortable home wherever we transplant them!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm thank you for your kind and informative response.
Best to you all. Great work!
Are y’all anywhere near Pine or Strawberry? Reason being I read where their wells are going dry.
Hey James. We're just outside Phoenix, about 1 hour from downtown heading NW. The aquifer we're on is very stable as it's protected (we're all limited on how much water we can pull) and is filled by the Hassayampa River.
If you really want to geek out and blow your mind, you can find on TH-cam “Regreening the desert with John D. Liu VPRO documentary 2012”. Being a desert bloke you’ll really love what can be done.
There is also “Celebrating 10 years of greening the desert, Jordan” on TH-cam and 2000 year old food forests in Morocco.
I've seen a few documentaries on greening the desert, but I'm not positive I've seen that one. Time for a little YT search!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm that has been going on in China for I forget how long twenty to twenty five years.
Video starts at 2:06
Strange, I thought it started at 0:01. After spending all that time editing you would think I would know better.
I know you guys are super busy planting and other things but have you remembered to thin your peaches so you get better quality sized fruit?
Good catch there Eric. We haven't thinned quite yet. We usually let them get to about a quarter in diameter and then thin. That being said, I think we're probably there on those Florda Prince peaches. We only have another 45 days or so until harvest!
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm yeah mine are likely the same age as yours…maybe an inch in diameter or so. Ive thinned a few of mine but def gotta get more thinned asap.
I would be afraid of getting my water bill every month. Hope you have a well.
Yes, we are on a well.
looks like you two have a handle on your soil needs...worms are the farmers of the earth..
Worms are one of those helpers we're always trying to encourage....everywhere! Food and water and they're happy campers making wonderful fertilizer right where we need it!
Since I am on a Worm roll, do not forget "Big Worm" from FRIDAY. That's it I'm done.
I wonder if an ice cream bean tree might not be a better idea in this area....
You could have planted the tomatoes a whole lot deeper. Rule of thumb: 2/3 of the height from pot soil level.
Thanks for the tip Margaret. Sounds like we definitely could have planted these a bit deeper!
wondering if you soak seeds before planting...if so....look at how Dr(s) Johnson-Su pre soak with compost and (yes) milk....Johnson-Su bio-reactors.....
Hey John. We don't normally pre-soak the seeds, but I imagine it would help. Had not heard of doing so with milk though.
Hi! Nice video! 👍🏻 I live in the Phoenix area also and was told by a master gardener a few years ago that if you want to grow tomatoes from seed here in AZ, plant seeds at Thanksgiving for best harvest timing!
I have volunteer tomato plants popup every year in my west phoenix yard. The varieties are all a little different, but they do very well for me. They popup any time from spring thru early "fall"
That's sounds about right. We have a chart we printed years ago from the UofA Extension that lists planting dates and we figure a good 6-8 weeks prior would work. However, that's quite a bit further back for us. The last few years we've seen frost right up through the first week of March.
Thought Arizona had water shortage’s
Hey Keith. We're on well water here with existing water restrictions that we abide by. The city (Phoenix) has no water restrictions currently, but is considering imposing some. They depend on Colorado River water, so it's a bit more dicey.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm let’s hope ur well lasts a long time and all the best of luck to both of you.
Your bump, bump music is VERY irritating.
Yeah, it's not for everyone. We try to mix things up a bit when we get a chance as we have a pretty diverse audience.
@@EdgeofNowhereFarm Hardcore dubstep! j/k ha ha ha