Thanks so much for your support! Cheers & Thanks, Gary! Visit My Seed and Garden Shop The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD Popular Items from My Seed and Garden Shop... The Rusted Garden T-Shirts: bit.ly/4cSTuVA Seed Starting, Growing, and Pest Management Neem Oil: bit.ly/43IJl9C Peppermint Oil: bit.ly/43IJl9C Rosemary Oil: bit.ly/43IJl9C 100 Gallon Fabric Pots (approximately 100 Gallons): bit.ly/3PMoZ9S #20 Gallon Fabric Pots (21.32 Gallons): bit.ly/43Hz9OA #10 Gallon Fabric Pots (10.44 Gallons): bit.ly/3J5lEyK #5 Gallon Fabric Pots (4.3 Gallons): bit.ly/3J5lEyK 1 Quart Seed Starting Fabric Pots: bit.ly/43HQE1c Seed Starting Standard Plastic Flats: bit.ly/4cF326m Seed Starting Cells/Containers:bit.ly/3PMaCT1 2 1/2" Square Seed Starting Containers: bit.ly/43GOQWv 3" x 4" Round Seed Starting Containers: bit.ly/3TYckD7 Seed Starting Flats with Drainage Holes: Coming Soon 'No Potting Up' Large 6 Cells for Seed Starting: bit.ly/3xiLBIK Seed Collections and Packs The Rusted Garden 'Scan and Grow' Collection Scan the QR Code for Planting Instructions: bit.ly/43HYBDQ 10 Cool Weather Garden Crops for Spring & Fall: bit.ly/3xw3Ji5 10 Leafy 'Greens' Varieties for an Easy Greens Garden: bit.ly/4akuHIl The Rusted Garden Heirloom Tomato Seed Selections: bit.ly/49towQK The Rusted Garden Pepper Seed Selections: bit.ly/3U1G1TM My Amazon Garden Store Front As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Just use my... The Rusted Garden Amazon Influencer's Storefront link at www.amazon.com/shop/garypilarchiktherustedgarden anytime you shop. I put the products I use and discuss, in videos, there and have gardening products set up by categories. Such as Grow Lights, Fertilizers, Pest Control, and More. My 2nd TH-cam Channel Geared Towards Brand New Gardeners My First Vegetable Garden: bit.ly/3POOjMq My Podcasts The Rusted Garden Homestead... All About Growing, Cooking and Sharing Food: bit.ly/443SSGL My Blogs The Rusted Garden Journal: bit.ly/3vznpBl Join this channel to get access to Perk Memberships which focus on providing small live garden mentoring Q & A sessions, classes, and member influenced videos: th-cam.com/channels/ptL6_qMImyW_yZwiMjQdpg.htmljo My Books: The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-Sufficiency in Any Size Backyard Available Now amzn.to/40rfkIb Growing An Edible Landscape: How to Transform Your Outdoor Space Into a Food Garden Available November 2023 amzn.to/41tfno2 Products I Use and Recommend and I have an affiliation with them: GreenStalk Vertical Gardening Towers Use the Discount Code THERUSTEDGARDEN on GreenStalk 'Vertical Tier Systems'. Use this link and enter my code for the discount greenstalkgarden.com/?rstr=therustedgarden AgroThrive Organic Bio-Fertilizers Use my affiliate link and my code TRG10 to save 10% on your first order: agrothrive.com/?ref=M5o6fjdAruq_S Vegega Metal Raised Beds Check out all the metal bed design & colors (dozens) at Vegega. Here is my affiliate link use my code TRG to save 10%: www.vegega.com/?ref=le64f3gm30 There is often free shipping and my code does NOT stack when current sales are active and equal to or above 10% off. Follow The Rusted Garden on Instagram: bit.ly/4aiMQ9l Follow The Rusted Garden on Meta/Facebook: bit.ly/49tP2cF Follow The Rusted Garden on Threads: bit.ly/49tPesp Follow The Rusted Garden on TikTok: bit.ly/4cFGQZR Join me in my Private Meta/FB Group: The Rusted Garden Homestead: bit.ly/3xlvSbH Contact Me at therustedgardenmerch@gmail.com for questions or if you are interested in collaborations, affiliations or advertising. #gardening #gardeningtips #garden #gardentips @THERUSTEDGARDEN
You have such a calming, reassuring, non-righteous demeanor about you! So much that you've motivated me to start composting and really look at how to be a better gardener! Thank you for another great video!
You do a really nice job teaching and explaining gardening and also showing how you don't need a ton of products, which, could turn someone away from even trying.+
Thanks so much. That is my goal. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Yup. He hits all the important points without getting overly complicated - what I call it "the low anxiety approach." For this reason, his channel and book are my number one recommendations for beginners.
I made a cardboard shredder out of a old paper shredder and I welded a mud mixing drill to it it shreds Amazon boxes and I top my beds with it all year I've never had such good soil and worms love the cardboard.
That is nice! Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Gary, gardener from zone 4 Calgary Alberta Canada, your videos have helped me so much the past 5 yrs. Started composting last year, it's a amazing! THANK U!
So glad to help and good luck in 2025 Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Common sense is good. Good luck in 2025 Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Some ground needs to be worked to really get started. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Digging soil definitely destroys a lot of the microbiology, but compacted clay there's probably not a lot in there to start with. Chopping it up and then adding compost will improve it very quickly. Remember too that microbes can double their population in under half an hour, so it's not catastrophic. With compacted clay I actually double-dig it then add a stack of compost and mix in then throw a handful of mixed seeds on top. Mulch with leaves once they start to come up. The soil is usable within months and keeps getting better over time. A great no-nonsense video Gary. Cheers!
The microbe growth is crazy and good point for people to know. Re-establishment of fungi and such takes time but it is present when turning. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I have heavy clay,rocky soil that I think has a healthy micro-biom as is evidenced by the more that healthy population of earthworms. Earthworms eat fungi and bacteria. Tilling doesn't seem to hurt the worm population.
Agreed. Organic matter over the years is key. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Great stuff! I've studied soil science and done a few small-scale soil remediation projects. I concur "no till" is not possible when the native soil is very high in clay, rocky and/or severely damaged. In those cases, I use your "minimal till" approach.
Right. Minimal and planned. Good luck in 2025 Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I hope it reaches new gardeners. Turning is fine. It's mechanized tilling and pulverizing that cause issues. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Thanks Gary. Solid advice as usual. Throwing this idea out there for those who don't have a lot of compost. Lack of space in the burbs of Iowa Zone 5a means no composting , but lots of leaves. A layer of shredded leaves on the garden bed in the fall becomes leaf mold by mid June. Because of compaction, I turn the soil in the fall & add amendments similar to your video. Some nitrogen sequestration with this method, but I still get good production from all my plants. Keep adding leaves (preferably shredded) directly to the garden bed, and they will become compost. Note that leaves are weak in Nitrogen, so I have to search & supplement with occasional grass clippings, kitchen scraps, a sprinkling of fertilizer, and targets of opportunity like fish heads. Main thing is to just do something, and be ready to do something different if it doesn't work. If someone in a red state like Iowa can garden successfully, how hard can it be?
Good tips. Anytime you can layer down and organic matter, it will be a win. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
This just re-affirmed what I did today at my raised beds. I forked them all to collapse all of the ground squirrel tunnels and amended them after. When I disturbed the soil, I found a lot of dry patches after it rained all week so I’m hoping this helps with drainage also. Thanks Gary
That should work. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Ironically I just did this 2 days ago before this video came into my feed. I've been doing no dig for years and my clay soil has turned into concrete. I did use a small roto tiller to incorporate LOTS of compost (made on site) into the soil, it's been so dry no worms were harmed in the process. I don't feel tilling was detrimental to the process, it broke up the soil in a similar way that digging and breaking up the clumps would but more importantly it mixed the compost through very well, the soil is once again loamy and beautiful. We have now 7 huge compost bins with shredded leaves I drove around and collected leaf bags neighbors were throwing out. I guess next year I will see how this worked out, I have high hopes. I also put in a little bit of fertilizer into my compost piles to get them going, sometimes urine and water, my. thermometer said it was in the "hot" region, I couldn't believe how well it works. Anyways, great video and it's nice to see some affirmation I'm on the right path by digging my garden again. I also covered my beds with a thick layer of mulched leaves and then put some black woven (porous) fabric over that with a few bricks, hoping to warm the soil earlier in the spring and invite the worms back in.
It is sometimes needed and helps with drainage and future establishment of great soil. Once that top 8-12 inches becomes good stuff, you have more option going forward in my opinion. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Glad to share Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I'm not a new gardener anymore but great content for those learning especially when it comes to red clay soil. When we bought our place 20 years ago, that soil was like concrete in the summer.
It takes work those first couple of years for sure but once rolling it gets better every year. Cheers Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
A bit of a fine point, but on the use of peat/coir I let PH be the deciding factor. Peat is very acidic and can lower the PH until it stabilizes (about four months). If your bed is close to neutral PH and you'll be growing tomatoes, then great to add peat. If your bed has low PH and you want to bring it up, coir would be a better choice. For most applications I use a mix of 2 parts coir to 1 part peat. This is close enough to neutral that the PH is not affected. I would recommend staying away from cheap-o coir. It usually has a lot of salt from processing with sea water. Better to use a quality brand like Plantonix.
Great points. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Thanks. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Well stated. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
We till and I tried just loosening the soil to do a no dig and the plants didn’t like it. It’s sandy with hugelkulture base in ground and there are designated beds. There are many variances when we talk about plowing, tilling and cultivating and each does a different job. Then there is the consideration of how many revolutions the tiller or cultivator does. I had a manthis that blenderized the soil to powder. Long story short I find in my garden tilling and light cultivating does best. This was the first year I noticed root knot nematode damage on a few carrots and I didn’t till or cultivate which helps to protect against them nematodes. Generally the worms are not present in late fall or early spring as they go deeper here. I’m trusting in a new compost tumbler for fertilizer from leachate I catch with a tub below and the compost and leaves, ect . Fertilizer can be pricey. We have a couple beds of clay from delivered soil. I work in shredded oak leaves and whatever else I have and that makes it friable. Actually I can’t agree with tilling damaging the soil as I have mushrooms everywhere and from using arborist chips we now have worms. There were none when I moved here.
This particular no-dig style is one version, but there's another which uses a lower amount and much less expensive materials. It's where the roots primarily grow directly into the clay itself. First year, after solarizing the area with tarps a few months or by laying down recycled cardboard lay down 4 inches of leaf mold(old chopped leaves) where you can oftentimes find for free at your towns' borough organic waste facility for fall leaves and yard waste. Then, put your transplants deeply into it touching the clay. Every year just add 4 more inches of cheap leaf mold or homemade compost as a mulch. In a couple years, the clay will change beautifully and developed a crumbly texture. Hummus will developed over that layer because of all the prior years decay, compost will cover that because of last year's leaf mold, finally the new leaf mold will mulch over everything. I've done this and have had six fantastic years of produce. But, like Gary said, sometimes finding good materials for cheap is difficult. Happy Gardening next season!
There are many ways to do it. Solarizing kills soil life too. Hybrid wise I might turn it anyway and go to the rest you describe. For me the no dig works and is really best for more farms and very very large spaces or selective beds. I like the fact it's a reduction in but still great material. Hand managing larger spaces is very time consuming. Basically the bottom line is it is about the top 8-12 inches. However you get it to be good stuff, it is what matters and once good, just add to the top. Cheers. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
We have oretty good compost from the green waste section of the dump. It's around $30 per truck full(6 cubic yards). I have 5 compost piles. The 3 outside are frozen solid. The 2 in the high tunnel are good and hot. I cannot make enough compost for my needs right now. Maybe as my food forest matures? I'm also going to do at least 1 50 ft trench of inoculated biochar. The soil is nutrient dense but lots of rocks and clay. Been working on it for 30 years. Yhe only oroblem I have is digging my root crops w/o breaking them
Sound like you have a solid plan. That is a good price for 6 cubic yards. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com Please visit my seed and garden shop www.therustedgarden.com Join this channel ($3.99 a month) to get access to Live Chat Garden Mentoring Q&A Perks: th-cam.com/channels/ptL6_qMImyW_yZwiMjQdpg.htmljoin
Thanks Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Thanks so much. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I quit digging this Georgia clay many years ago...I only grow in raised gardens. I turn every year, I use leaves, and I have huge piles of wood chips from the EMC in my county, I also have mulch piles from our chickens and horses. The best thing about raised gardens is that you can control what goes into the soil, and learn from trial and error.
Another good option. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Good luck in 2025 Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Perfect. I just dont want new gardeners fearing turning. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
OMG! I've been destroying my soil every year. Nothing will grow in it. LOL! Yeah, right. Every fall, after the leaves have begun to fall, I mow over them, store chopped up leaves in two trash bins for use later as mulch, top off my compost bin and compost pile, and cover all empty raised bed space. If I have any leaves left over, I usually do, they go inside my chicken run. Guess what I do with them later. If you guessed use the poop laden, decaying leaves as mulch, you are right. In the spring, I turn the decomposing leaves into the soil. I harvested and processed Swiss Chard and Komatsuna the other day, and covered the soil where the Komatsuna was growing. Can't have bare soil. Also, there was a nitrogen deficiency in the soil, so I tossed in a couple handfuls of granular fertilizer. The raised bed is good to go until February when I start planting again. The chard is cut and come again, so no worries with it. Frost is in the forecast for the next two days, and again next week, so I am doing a clean up pepper harvest tomorrow, and cutting the plants to soil level and adding them to my compost bins. It is going to be cold Saturday, so I may, or may not harvest Tatsoi. After that comes Yellow Heart Winter Choy. Egads, I planted a lot of that. I'll probably start pulling up turnips too. The red cabbage and Napa Cabbage are forming heads, and looking great. RIP Dutch Cabbage-fusarium wilt (yellows). The broccoli and cauliflower are starting to flower, and in about a week, I'll harvest a second crop of Pak Choi. It will be a month or two before the carrots and parsnips are ready to pick. The beets have healthy leaves, but it is hard to tell if they have roots. The turnips have overgrown their space and are covering them. Not a big deal; it is time for them to start coming out. Then the beets will have the raised bed to themselves. In about seven weeks, I break out the heat mat and grow lights, and start all over again. My next garden is planned and plotted out on 1/2 inch graph paper. With the addition of six new raised beds, relocation of three, and all beds having hoops for netting, shade cloth, or plastic, the garden is going to be scary big, sixteen raised beds, three Greenstalk towers, a 10 x 20 foot herb garden, an orchard with eleven fruit trees, and more. Yep, scary big for a backyard garden. Call it a little over an acre. Oh, and I have chickens too. Next year, I want to build a second chicken coop and run, and double the size of my flock. Hopefully, then I'll be happy with what I have. Actually, I already have too much, but what the hell. That is what friends, family, and neighbors are for (To pawn off my excess.).
Yep, I just dont want new gardeners to have that fear. Nice composting and use of the chicken run. Love red cabbage, I do miss I didnt plant that. Lol yes friends and new friends. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Cheers. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Cheers Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Enjoy good enough and significant improvements, I say while on the road to perfection. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
What about plowing? I was friends with a farmer some 40+ years ago, & I helped him plow his fields. Is that now frowned upon for farming. The area I helped with was 80 Acres, if I remember right.
For me its about tilling home gardens and smaller farms. Plowing fields is a bit out of my league. There are really so many ways to grow. Plowing and not amending soil would be worst. The use of chemical fertilizer only and plowing the soil caused the issues in the 50's with farm land. Initial plowing maybe needed. Wether or not in is always needed is probably based on crop and amending. So lol, I dont know. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
You can. You can also use a broad fork just to loosen the soil and not turn it. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Nematode? Well not from experience but I read beneficial nematodes can help and you would have to look that up on line Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
In my opinion once 4/5years Turing the soil is OK. You reset the system add ammendments, all nutirens from lower parts now you can expose again in surface
It home gardens turning, imo, isn't really the issues. It's adding organic matter. I think 4 years or so works. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Cheers Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I always check out home depot, Lowes and Walmart. You never know. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Snail baits down now will take care of them. I have lots of videos on it. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
At 3:15 , lets be real, that crumbled WAY too easy to be clay soil. The clay I have is like working with modelling clay that's half dried out. It is tough, sticky and does NOT crumble AT ALL.
The other beds are managing. The key is continued organic matters. It takes time to get it rolling. Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Tilling is different from shovel turning. You don't kill everything with a turn of a shovel. It's okay to disturb the soil. The worst think you an do actually is under watering a garden.
@THERUSTEDGARDEN fungi isn't like bacteria. Fungi takes a lot longer grow and forum the networks the plants need. I don't till and I don't use herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers. I don't even use organic fertilizers. I have no health issues with my plants or pests problems. This is becuase my brix reading is above 14
@miracletaproot I sorry there is really one way and that's mother nature's way. Watch her and learn like I did. She doesn't till, doest use pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. What she does do is feed the biology in the soil with leaves and plant matter. She also never leaves the soil bare. It is always covered or has a plant growing. We need to stop being brain washed by big ag.
Thanks so much for your support! Cheers & Thanks, Gary!
Visit My Seed and Garden Shop
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Popular Items from My Seed and Garden Shop...
The Rusted Garden T-Shirts: bit.ly/4cSTuVA
Seed Starting, Growing, and Pest Management
Neem Oil: bit.ly/43IJl9C
Peppermint Oil: bit.ly/43IJl9C
Rosemary Oil: bit.ly/43IJl9C
100 Gallon Fabric Pots (approximately 100 Gallons): bit.ly/3PMoZ9S
#20 Gallon Fabric Pots (21.32 Gallons): bit.ly/43Hz9OA
#10 Gallon Fabric Pots (10.44 Gallons): bit.ly/3J5lEyK
#5 Gallon Fabric Pots (4.3 Gallons): bit.ly/3J5lEyK
1 Quart Seed Starting Fabric Pots: bit.ly/43HQE1c
Seed Starting Standard Plastic Flats: bit.ly/4cF326m
Seed Starting Cells/Containers:bit.ly/3PMaCT1
2 1/2" Square Seed Starting Containers: bit.ly/43GOQWv
3" x 4" Round Seed Starting Containers: bit.ly/3TYckD7
Seed Starting Flats with Drainage Holes: Coming Soon
'No Potting Up' Large 6 Cells for Seed Starting: bit.ly/3xiLBIK
Seed Collections and Packs
The Rusted Garden 'Scan and Grow' Collection
Scan the QR Code for Planting Instructions: bit.ly/43HYBDQ
10 Cool Weather Garden Crops for Spring & Fall: bit.ly/3xw3Ji5
10 Leafy 'Greens' Varieties for an Easy Greens Garden: bit.ly/4akuHIl
The Rusted Garden Heirloom Tomato Seed Selections: bit.ly/49towQK
The Rusted Garden Pepper Seed Selections: bit.ly/3U1G1TM
My Amazon Garden Store Front
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Just use my... The Rusted Garden Amazon Influencer's Storefront link at www.amazon.com/shop/garypilarchiktherustedgarden anytime you shop.
I put the products I use and discuss, in videos, there and have gardening products set up by categories. Such as Grow Lights, Fertilizers, Pest Control, and More.
My 2nd TH-cam Channel Geared Towards Brand New Gardeners
My First Vegetable Garden: bit.ly/3POOjMq
My Podcasts
The Rusted Garden Homestead... All About Growing, Cooking and Sharing Food: bit.ly/443SSGL
My Blogs
The Rusted Garden Journal: bit.ly/3vznpBl
Join this channel to get access to Perk Memberships which focus on providing small live garden mentoring Q & A sessions, classes, and member influenced videos:
th-cam.com/channels/ptL6_qMImyW_yZwiMjQdpg.htmljo
My Books:
The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-Sufficiency in Any Size Backyard
Available Now amzn.to/40rfkIb
Growing An Edible Landscape: How to Transform Your Outdoor Space Into a Food Garden
Available November 2023 amzn.to/41tfno2
Products I Use and Recommend and I have an affiliation with them:
GreenStalk Vertical Gardening Towers
Use the Discount Code THERUSTEDGARDEN on GreenStalk 'Vertical Tier Systems'. Use this link and enter my code for the discount greenstalkgarden.com/?rstr=therustedgarden
AgroThrive Organic Bio-Fertilizers
Use my affiliate link and my code TRG10 to save 10% on your first order: agrothrive.com/?ref=M5o6fjdAruq_S
Vegega Metal Raised Beds
Check out all the metal bed design & colors (dozens) at Vegega. Here is my affiliate link use my code TRG to save 10%: www.vegega.com/?ref=le64f3gm30
There is often free shipping and my code does NOT stack when current sales are active and equal to or above 10% off.
Follow The Rusted Garden on Instagram: bit.ly/4aiMQ9l
Follow The Rusted Garden on Meta/Facebook: bit.ly/49tP2cF
Follow The Rusted Garden on Threads: bit.ly/49tPesp
Follow The Rusted Garden on TikTok: bit.ly/4cFGQZR
Join me in my Private Meta/FB Group: The Rusted Garden Homestead: bit.ly/3xlvSbH
Contact Me at therustedgardenmerch@gmail.com for questions or if you are interested in collaborations, affiliations or advertising.
#gardening
#gardeningtips
#garden
#gardentips
@THERUSTEDGARDEN
You have such a calming, reassuring, non-righteous demeanor about you! So much that you've motivated me to start composting and really look at how to be a better gardener! Thank you for another great video!
You do a really nice job teaching and explaining gardening and also showing how you don't need a ton of products, which, could turn someone away from even trying.+
Thanks so much. That is my goal.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Yup. He hits all the important points without getting overly complicated - what I call it "the low anxiety approach." For this reason, his channel and book are my number one recommendations for beginners.
I made a cardboard shredder out of a old paper shredder and I welded a mud mixing drill to it it shreds Amazon boxes and I top my beds with it all year I've never had such good soil and worms love the cardboard.
Sweet!
That is nice!
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Gary, gardener from zone 4 Calgary Alberta Canada, your videos have helped me so much the past 5 yrs. Started composting last year, it's a amazing! THANK U!
So glad to help and good luck in 2025
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Great common sense approach and I have used a similar method for years.
Common sense is good. Good luck in 2025
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Epic gardening tried no dig the first year at his new home… then admitted he had to till the first year, then went no dig. So good advice here!
Some ground needs to be worked to really get started.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Digging soil definitely destroys a lot of the microbiology, but compacted clay there's probably not a lot in there to start with.
Chopping it up and then adding compost will improve it very quickly. Remember too that microbes can double their population in under half an hour, so it's not catastrophic.
With compacted clay I actually double-dig it then add a stack of compost and mix in then throw a handful of mixed seeds on top. Mulch with leaves once they start to come up.
The soil is usable within months and keeps getting better over time. A great no-nonsense video Gary. Cheers!
The microbe growth is crazy and good point for people to know. Re-establishment of fungi and such takes time but it is present when turning.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I have heavy clay,rocky soil that I think has a healthy micro-biom as is evidenced by the more that healthy population of earthworms. Earthworms eat fungi and bacteria. Tilling doesn't seem to hurt the worm population.
Good practical advice. Always Amend your soil...
Agreed. Organic matter over the years is key.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Great stuff! I've studied soil science and done a few small-scale soil remediation projects. I concur "no till" is not possible when the native soil is very high in clay, rocky and/or severely damaged. In those cases, I use your "minimal till" approach.
Right. Minimal and planned. Good luck in 2025
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I appreciate your fear-busting instructions!
I hope it reaches new gardeners. Turning is fine. It's mechanized tilling and pulverizing that cause issues.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Thanks Gary. Solid advice as usual. Throwing this idea out there for those who don't have a lot of compost. Lack of space in the burbs of Iowa Zone 5a means no composting , but lots of leaves. A layer of shredded leaves on the garden bed in the fall becomes leaf mold by mid June. Because of compaction, I turn the soil in the fall & add amendments similar to your video. Some nitrogen sequestration with this method, but I still get good production from all my plants. Keep adding leaves (preferably shredded) directly to the garden bed, and they will become compost. Note that leaves are weak in Nitrogen, so I have to search & supplement with occasional grass clippings, kitchen scraps, a sprinkling of fertilizer, and targets of opportunity like fish heads. Main thing is to just do something, and be ready to do something different if it doesn't work. If someone in a red state like Iowa can garden successfully, how hard can it be?
Good tips. Anytime you can layer down and organic matter, it will be a win.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
This just re-affirmed what I did today at my raised beds. I forked them all to collapse all of the ground squirrel tunnels and amended them after. When I disturbed the soil, I found a lot of dry patches after it rained all week so I’m hoping this helps with drainage also. Thanks Gary
That should work.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Ironically I just did this 2 days ago before this video came into my feed. I've been doing no dig for years and my clay soil has turned into concrete. I did use a small roto tiller to incorporate LOTS of compost (made on site) into the soil, it's been so dry no worms were harmed in the process. I don't feel tilling was detrimental to the process, it broke up the soil in a similar way that digging and breaking up the clumps would but more importantly it mixed the compost through very well, the soil is once again loamy and beautiful. We have now 7 huge compost bins with shredded leaves I drove around and collected leaf bags neighbors were throwing out. I guess next year I will see how this worked out, I have high hopes. I also put in a little bit of fertilizer into my compost piles to get them going, sometimes urine and water, my. thermometer said it was in the "hot" region, I couldn't believe how well it works. Anyways, great video and it's nice to see some affirmation I'm on the right path by digging my garden again. I also covered my beds with a thick layer of mulched leaves and then put some black woven (porous) fabric over that with a few bricks, hoping to warm the soil earlier in the spring and invite the worms back in.
It is sometimes needed and helps with drainage and future establishment of great soil. Once that top 8-12 inches becomes good stuff, you have more option going forward in my opinion.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Gary your the best. Thankyou for all you do and teach. N.C.
Glad to share
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I'm not a new gardener anymore but great content for those learning especially when it comes to red clay soil. When we bought our place 20 years ago, that soil was like concrete in the summer.
It takes work those first couple of years for sure but once rolling it gets better every year. Cheers
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
A bit of a fine point, but on the use of peat/coir I let PH be the deciding factor. Peat is very acidic and can lower the PH until it stabilizes (about four months). If your bed is close to neutral PH and you'll be growing tomatoes, then great to add peat. If your bed has low PH and you want to bring it up, coir would be a better choice. For most applications I use a mix of 2 parts coir to 1 part peat. This is close enough to neutral that the PH is not affected. I would recommend staying away from cheap-o coir. It usually has a lot of salt from processing with sea water. Better to use a quality brand like Plantonix.
Great points.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
My tomatoes love my neutral soil. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, most of my berries like more acidic soil
Awesome video❤❤❤❤❤❤
Thanks.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Gardening is like cooking, or any kind of art....everyone has their own recipe.
Well stated.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
We till and I tried just loosening the soil to do a no dig and the plants didn’t like it. It’s sandy with hugelkulture base in ground and there are designated beds. There are many variances when we talk about plowing, tilling and cultivating and each does a different job. Then there is the consideration of how many revolutions the tiller or cultivator does. I had a manthis that blenderized the soil to powder.
Long story short I find in my garden tilling and light cultivating does best. This was the first year I noticed root knot nematode damage on a few carrots and I didn’t till or cultivate which helps to protect against them nematodes. Generally the worms are not present in late fall or early spring as they go deeper here.
I’m trusting in a new compost tumbler for fertilizer from leachate I catch with a tub below and the compost and leaves, ect . Fertilizer can be pricey.
We have a couple beds of clay from delivered soil. I work in shredded oak leaves and whatever else I have and that makes it friable. Actually I can’t agree with tilling damaging the soil as I have mushrooms everywhere and from using arborist chips we now have worms. There were none when I moved here.
This particular no-dig style is one version, but there's another which uses a lower amount and much less expensive materials.
It's where the roots primarily grow directly into the clay itself. First year, after solarizing the area with tarps a few months or by laying down recycled cardboard lay down 4 inches of leaf mold(old chopped leaves) where you can oftentimes find for free at your towns' borough organic waste facility for fall leaves and yard waste. Then, put your transplants deeply into it touching the clay. Every year just add 4 more inches of cheap leaf mold or homemade compost as a mulch.
In a couple years, the clay will change beautifully and developed a crumbly texture. Hummus will developed over that layer because of all the prior years decay, compost will cover that because of last year's leaf mold, finally the new leaf mold will mulch over everything. I've done this and have had six fantastic years of produce.
But, like Gary said, sometimes finding good materials for cheap is difficult.
Happy Gardening next season!
There are many ways to do it. Solarizing kills soil life too. Hybrid wise I might turn it anyway and go to the rest you describe. For me the no dig works and is really best for more farms and very very large spaces or selective beds. I like the fact it's a reduction in but still great material. Hand managing larger spaces is very time consuming. Basically the bottom line is it is about the top 8-12 inches. However you get it to be good stuff, it is what matters and once good, just add to the top. Cheers.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
We have oretty good compost from the green waste section of the dump. It's around $30 per truck full(6 cubic yards). I have 5 compost piles. The 3 outside are frozen solid. The 2 in the high tunnel are good and hot. I cannot make enough compost for my needs right now. Maybe as my food forest matures? I'm also going to do at least 1 50 ft trench of inoculated biochar. The soil is nutrient dense but lots of rocks and clay. Been working on it for 30 years. Yhe only oroblem I have is digging my root crops w/o breaking them
Sound like you have a solid plan. That is a good price for 6 cubic yards.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
Please visit my seed and garden shop www.therustedgarden.com
Join this channel ($3.99 a month) to get access to Live Chat Garden Mentoring Q&A Perks:
th-cam.com/channels/ptL6_qMImyW_yZwiMjQdpg.htmljoin
Very great.
Thanks
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
So Nice Vlog ❤❤❤❤
Thanks so much.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I quit digging this Georgia clay many years ago...I only grow in raised gardens. I turn every year, I use leaves, and I have huge piles of wood chips from the EMC in my county, I also have mulch piles from our chickens and horses.
The best thing about raised gardens is that you can control what goes into the soil, and learn from trial and error.
Another good option.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Good stuff 😊
Good luck in 2025
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I've always turned my soil when adding amendments.
Perfect. I just dont want new gardeners fearing turning.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
OMG! I've been destroying my soil every year. Nothing will grow in it. LOL! Yeah, right. Every fall, after the leaves have begun to fall, I mow over them, store chopped up leaves in two trash bins for use later as mulch, top off my compost bin and compost pile, and cover all empty raised bed space. If I have any leaves left over, I usually do, they go inside my chicken run. Guess what I do with them later. If you guessed use the poop laden, decaying leaves as mulch, you are right. In the spring, I turn the decomposing leaves into the soil.
I harvested and processed Swiss Chard and Komatsuna the other day, and covered the soil where the Komatsuna was growing. Can't have bare soil. Also, there was a nitrogen deficiency in the soil, so I tossed in a couple handfuls of granular fertilizer. The raised bed is good to go until February when I start planting again. The chard is cut and come again, so no worries with it. Frost is in the forecast for the next two days, and again next week, so I am doing a clean up pepper harvest tomorrow, and cutting the plants to soil level and adding them to my compost bins.
It is going to be cold Saturday, so I may, or may not harvest Tatsoi. After that comes Yellow Heart Winter Choy. Egads, I planted a lot of that. I'll probably start pulling up turnips too.
The red cabbage and Napa Cabbage are forming heads, and looking great. RIP Dutch Cabbage-fusarium wilt (yellows). The broccoli and cauliflower are starting to flower, and in about a week, I'll harvest a second crop of Pak Choi. It will be a month or two before the carrots and parsnips are ready to pick. The beets have healthy leaves, but it is hard to tell if they have roots. The turnips have overgrown their space and are covering them. Not a big deal; it is time for them to start coming out. Then the beets will have the raised bed to themselves.
In about seven weeks, I break out the heat mat and grow lights, and start all over again. My next garden is planned and plotted out on 1/2 inch graph paper. With the addition of six new raised beds, relocation of three, and all beds having hoops for netting, shade cloth, or plastic, the garden is going to be scary big, sixteen raised beds, three Greenstalk towers, a 10 x 20 foot herb garden, an orchard with eleven fruit trees, and more. Yep, scary big for a backyard garden. Call it a little over an acre. Oh, and I have chickens too.
Next year, I want to build a second chicken coop and run, and double the size of my flock. Hopefully, then I'll be happy with what I have. Actually, I already have too much, but what the hell. That is what friends, family, and neighbors are for (To pawn off my excess.).
Dude, you are my hero.
Yep, I just dont want new gardeners to have that fear. Nice composting and use of the chicken run. Love red cabbage, I do miss I didnt plant that. Lol yes friends and new friends.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
He grows so much.
I agree with you.
Cheers.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Let's Go Gary!
Cheers
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
I'd double dig in the 1st 3 years especially in that lovely clay soil. Get that wonderful compost down 12 to 14 inches deep for drought resistance.
That works for sure.
Perfect is the enemy of good enough.
Enjoy good enough and significant improvements, I say while on the road to perfection.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Hi Gary I have a question I brought some decorative straw for Halloween could I use it as mulch?
What about plowing? I was friends with a farmer some 40+ years ago, & I helped him plow his fields. Is that now frowned upon for farming. The area I helped with was 80 Acres, if I remember right.
For me its about tilling home gardens and smaller farms. Plowing fields is a bit out of my league. There are really so many ways to grow. Plowing and not amending soil would be worst. The use of chemical fertilizer only and plowing the soil caused the issues in the 50's with farm land. Initial plowing maybe needed. Wether or not in is always needed is probably based on crop and amending. So lol, I dont know.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
We put our own home made soil in raised beds.
That is a great way to do it.
Could you use a garden fork to turn the soil
You can. You can also use a broad fork just to loosen the soil and not turn it.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
What is the natural way to help out one of my potting beds that has root not neat toed I just discovered???
Nematode? Well not from experience but I read beneficial nematodes can help and you would have to look that up on line
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Hello, Harry.
Do you have any idea of what is the pH for this peat moss. I can’t identify it.
With respect.
Thanks in advance.
Gary, I beg your pardon I wrote your name wrong.
Very sorry.
It varies based on if the company drops in some lime. But I think ti sits around 5.5.
In my opinion once 4/5years Turing the soil is OK. You reset the system add ammendments, all nutirens from lower parts now you can expose again in surface
It home gardens turning, imo, isn't really the issues. It's adding organic matter. I think 4 years or so works.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Cheers, Gary! I appreciate you so much. This was very helpful. 💚🪴
Cheers
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
Where do you buy your fertilizer from? I'm trying to catch a sale over here in Maryland but can't seem to find them.
I always check out home depot, Lowes and Walmart. You never know.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
@@THERUSTEDGARDEN thank you! I really appreciate this advice.
Isn’t that the same thing as broad working basically broad forking basically
Problems is that slugs like mulch also and tend to eat all my seedlings.
Snail baits down now will take care of them. I have lots of videos on it.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
At 3:15 , lets be real, that crumbled WAY too easy to be clay soil. The clay I have is like working with modelling clay that's half dried out. It is tough, sticky and does NOT crumble AT ALL.
Still classified as clay but it varies for sure. You might have the worst type.
I think your clay will turn back into clay. That's what mine does.
The other beds are managing. The key is continued organic matters. It takes time to get it rolling.
Please visit my new blog www.therustedgardenblog.com
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: www.therustedgarden.com
Earn 15% and become a TRG Affiliate for our seed & garden shop
Sign Up Here: bit.ly/4aarkDD
You kill the mycorrhizal and other fungi. You also destroy the network. Tilling or disturbing soil is the worst thing you can do.
Tilling is different from shovel turning. You don't kill everything with a turn of a shovel. It's okay to disturb the soil. The worst think you an do actually is under watering a garden.
@THERUSTEDGARDEN fungi isn't like bacteria. Fungi takes a lot longer grow and forum the networks the plants need.
I don't till and I don't use herbicides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers. I don't even use organic fertilizers. I have no health issues with my plants or pests problems. This is becuase my brix reading is above 14
No method works for every garden. Some people would not be able to grow anything without loosening the soil.
@miracletaproot I sorry there is really one way and that's mother nature's way. Watch her and learn like I did. She doesn't till, doest use pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. What she does do is feed the biology in the soil with leaves and plant matter. She also never leaves the soil bare. It is always covered or has a plant growing.
We need to stop being brain washed by big ag.
Excellent.
No till vs no dig.
Turning a bed often gets lumped into tilling. It is confusing to new gardeners for sure.
"Break it up, mix it together..."
Just use a tiller.