So grateful to find a Texas gardener! The struggle is real here. Only my third year, learning every failure and success. Have to do raised beds, age and pain, make it difficult to get on my knees. (Getting up, no way) I’m working this system as much as possible. Thank you for sharing your wisdom! Blessings!
You have a beautiful garden. I like that it looks kinda wild. I don’t like to use chemicals in my small garden or my very large yard, but my husband is of a different mind set. I’m trying to change that but I’m afraid that I’m talking to the choir
I’ve got horses and therefore mucho compost!!! Best fertilizer there is, I also haven’t bought bagged planting mix this year. The hardest part is waiting for the new pile to turn into compost when I’ve raided the current pile! Now if I could figure out what will survive the summer (30 mi west of Fort Worth)! Steep learning curve for sure but I still keep trying!
Yup, I live in the desert and am composting, and planting trees to tree to provide canopy shade for the under portion. My biggest success was the mulch covering the ground. That made it so much easier. Now with the compost, and the shade, I should be able to start growing heavily. It's just a plan and do guys. Nature is resilient, keep trying, keep growing. And am definitely looking into Quails cause I think they're cool little guys... and I want their fertilizer
I have zero water added in my backyard. All sorts of onions and berries and fruit trees and melons and true yams etc growing right now. It’s all orchard woodchip style. Front yard is now 90% not his vegetable garden composted woodchips screened with chicken manure screened. But my own method. No water at all yet and everything is green and flowering in NE Texas. In the backyard I have cross bred twenty varieties collards and no water even during last years stage four drought. I have to go out and start picking the dried seed pods to replant as I am developing my own collard landrace with no watering, no spraying, no new fertilizers except the orchard woodchip method with compost added below on top of the clay on first installation. The biggest negatives of woodchips are pill bugs which means you grow more seedlings to transplant to make up for some early spring food dearth pill bug pressure. I have uncountable different varieties and sizes and colors of wasps which eat all the caterpillars and bugs. This year my focus is front yard flower garden which is booming. Only water there is on transplantation for a week then no more. Everything green and big and flowering. I expect to water by hand with a gallon watering can with 18 to 20 fill ups during peak summers heat which is amazing to use twenty gallons of water twice a week when the average Texas home uses 2,500 to 4,500 gallons of water just in the automatic lawn sprinkler system. I ripped all my water sprinkler system sprinkler heads out and capped them when I converted my home gardens over. Even my summer water bills are now as small as my winter water bills. Which is nothing because I use so little water now the city can’t bill me anything but the discount bare minimum rate because I don’t go over the minimum amount to add water charges on top like all the other houses here. Neighbors get on social media and boast about their $460 summer water bills to keep their gardens going as if it’s a badge of honor. I just keep on doing my thing. Keep on doing your thing. Edit: as a side benefit most of the fire ants I had when my home was all grass lawn everywhere have gone. I hardly see them anymore and instead have tons of tiny ants and other ants running around.
How did you grow squash? Do you get squash vine borers? I can maybe get 1 baby zucchini or yellow squash before they destroy all! Help. PS love this intro and
I have the best results with butternut squash. They root along the vine and this makes them stronger. The white scallop squash I find is also a little more resilient compared to zucchini and yellow squash. But yes, I have SVB also. It’s just a trace to the finish and sometimes I win lol
I have the same issue with borers. This year I’m covering everything and it’s working really well. I have to hand pollinate but I’m not fighting borers.
@@amyhood6562 How do you cover them? Insect netting, but how? Do you just drape like with frost cloth and pin it down? I’d love to hear more about this solution!!! 😉
@@butterlite100 I use tulle that I bought from the local fabric store. I'm sure you could probably find some insect covers as well. I made some hoops from some leftover mainline irrigation tubing that I had lying around and put the tulle over that. It's been working really well for me. I'm also going to experiment with some tromboncino squash that is supposed to be safe from the vine borers.
I see a peach tree near your privacy fence back there. I too am using the Back To Eden method ( first year ) and while it instantly shows promise, I notice my peach tree shows chlorosis and I was wondering if you have any advice. I’m not a fertilizer guy either and don’t see the need for it, but my peach tree is 6 years old and something’s hindering it. I appreciate any help you can give.
Maybe try planting comfrey at the base of your tree, comfrey sends roots down 8 to 10 feet and brings up nutrients from deep below. Excellent as a mulch, to make "garden tea" to water your plants and a source of protein if you have chickens or rabbits as part of their diet. Also has medicinal value for pain relieving salve.
An existing tree not grown under wood chips shouldn't be covered up to it's trunk in mulch as this can cause problems. If you are the trunk that was dry and air exposed all those years will now be constantly wet and you'll be giving pill bugs and other detritus eaters a free ride up to the now wet and moist bark on the trunk to eat and expose the tree to any bacteria, virus or parasitic fungi. Most arborists and Ag guides will teach folks to pull the mulch back from the immediate trunk area so it's not touching while keeping the rest of the ground over the tree roots heavily mulched when applying mulch to trees that never had it. It takes about three years for the wood chips to get going good unless you are starting with already composted chips. You don't till them in just leave them sitting on top of the ground. And until your years accrue and the insects balance each other out you'll get a decent amount of pill bugs and beetle larvae in the beginning though on a plus side you'll soon also see a lot of earthworms multiplying which is a very good thing for the soils future health. Fertilizer is OK to use in the establishment years as well as any treatments you may need to bring the trees right. You are in a transition phase so don't think it's quit cold turkey your old treecare methods. Think more weaning off slowly to the new way as the ecology starts to come online. Chlorosis is an iron deficiency if you really think you have that take a leaf into a nursery or Ag center for confirmation. Soil tests are also cheap compared to lost time and trees so that's a peace of mind. Yellow leaves in general are both signs of not enough watering and too much watering.
It sounds like a soil deficiency. I have been composting under my apple tree for about a year now. I will probably start composting under my peach next. That is a sure way to improve the soil.
@@MyTexasYard I did add a little iron and manganese after doing my research, but I don’t like putting that stuff in the ground. I prefer the natural way. I appreciate the advice and enjoy the videos, keep ‘em coming. Subscribed😉
I’m trying hugelkulture in my raised beds. Got pretty fair results this year though the asparagus prolly didn’t have enough depth and did not flower. Right now I’ve got composted manure curing for the next round I’ll plant mid aug. Had success with a mini pumpkin in last years heat that I’ll try again. 90 days to maturity should give me pumpkins before thanksgiving and hopefully before the first frost! They were delicious last year but I learned not to leave them on my porch because they turned to mush when it froze. Another lesson learned! The beets did well as did carrots with nothing but my homegrown horsey compost🥰
You're intro is cute, fun, and clever. Except the music is so jarring on my nerves, I have to lower the volume a lot. Right now, it's still down because I'm worried you might assault my ears again. Could you try something less hard on the highly sensitive viewers? That would include autistic people, other neurodiverse people, others with complex PTSD, and those born with extra sensitivity that makes it hard to navigate this noisy world.
I do most of my editing on my phone. My phone speaker probably does not give me accurate sound levels. I’ll double check to make sure my volume is consistent throughout in future videos.
@@MyTexasYardyes, love the intro! in my opinion, the music choice was spot on for the scene, and the volume seemed fine to me on all 3 of my devices, and I don't like loud music...
Good job. Kindred spirit. Enjoy the journey.
Love the intro!
So grateful to find a Texas gardener!
The struggle is real here. Only my third year, learning every failure and success.
Have to do raised beds, age and pain, make it difficult to get on my knees. (Getting up, no way)
I’m working this system as much as possible.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
Blessings!
Me too! Thought I was a pretty good gardener till I moved here! Steep learning curve!
You have a beautiful garden. I like that it looks kinda wild. I don’t like to use chemicals in my small garden or my very large yard, but my husband is of a different mind set. I’m trying to change that but I’m afraid that I’m talking to the choir
I’ve got horses and therefore mucho compost!!! Best fertilizer there is, I also haven’t bought bagged planting mix this year. The hardest part is waiting for the new pile to turn into compost when I’ve raided the current pile! Now if I could figure out what will survive the summer (30 mi west of Fort Worth)! Steep learning curve for sure but I still keep trying!
Ok I need a video of how you grow asparagus in texas! I'm in Houston originally from Minnesota and I miss my asparagus!!!
👍
Yup, I live in the desert and am composting, and planting trees to tree to provide canopy shade for the under portion. My biggest success was the mulch covering the ground. That made it so much easier. Now with the compost, and the shade, I should be able to start growing heavily. It's just a plan and do guys. Nature is resilient, keep trying, keep growing. And am definitely looking into Quails cause I think they're cool little guys...
and I want their fertilizer
Good to see you using your EDC in your garden 😂
Lol gotta stay ready out there!
I have zero water added in my backyard. All sorts of onions and berries and fruit trees and melons and true yams etc growing right now. It’s all orchard woodchip style. Front yard is now 90% not his vegetable garden composted woodchips screened with chicken manure screened. But my own method. No water at all yet and everything is green and flowering in NE Texas. In the backyard I have cross bred twenty varieties collards and no water even during last years stage four drought. I have to go out and start picking the dried seed pods to replant as I am developing my own collard landrace with no watering, no spraying, no new fertilizers except the orchard woodchip method with compost added below on top of the clay on first installation. The biggest negatives of woodchips are pill bugs which means you grow more seedlings to transplant to make up for some early spring food dearth pill bug pressure. I have uncountable different varieties and sizes and colors of wasps which eat all the caterpillars and bugs. This year my focus is front yard flower garden which is booming. Only water there is on transplantation for a week then no more. Everything green and big and flowering. I expect to water by hand with a gallon watering can with 18 to 20 fill ups during peak summers heat which is amazing to use twenty gallons of water twice a week when the average Texas home uses 2,500 to 4,500 gallons of water just in the automatic lawn sprinkler system. I ripped all my water sprinkler system sprinkler heads out and capped them when I converted my home gardens over. Even my summer water bills are now as small as my winter water bills. Which is nothing because I use so little water now the city can’t bill me anything but the discount bare minimum rate because I don’t go over the minimum amount to add water charges on top like all the other houses here. Neighbors get on social media and boast about their $460 summer water bills to keep their gardens going as if it’s a badge of honor. I just keep on doing my thing. Keep on doing your thing. Edit: as a side benefit most of the fire ants I had when my home was all grass lawn everywhere have gone. I hardly see them anymore and instead have tons of tiny ants and other ants running around.
I'm sick of stink bugs.
How did you grow squash? Do you get squash vine borers? I can maybe get 1 baby zucchini or yellow squash before they destroy all! Help. PS love this intro and
I have the best results with butternut squash. They root along the vine and this makes them stronger. The white scallop squash I find is also a little more resilient compared to zucchini and yellow squash.
But yes, I have SVB also. It’s just a trace to the finish and sometimes I win lol
@@MyTexasYard add Seminole Indians pumpkins to that list as well. The is also a cross of Butternut x Seminole called ?South Anna?
I have the same issue with borers. This year I’m covering everything and it’s working really well. I have to hand pollinate but I’m not fighting borers.
@@amyhood6562 How do you cover them? Insect netting, but how? Do you just drape like with frost cloth and pin it down? I’d love to hear more about this solution!!! 😉
@@butterlite100 I use tulle that I bought from the local fabric store. I'm sure you could probably find some insect covers as well. I made some hoops from some leftover mainline irrigation tubing that I had lying around and put the tulle over that. It's been working really well for me. I'm also going to experiment with some tromboncino squash that is supposed to be safe from the vine borers.
I see a peach tree near your privacy fence back there. I too am using the Back To Eden method ( first year ) and while it instantly shows promise, I notice my peach tree shows chlorosis and I was wondering if you have any advice. I’m not a fertilizer guy either and don’t see the need for it, but my peach tree is 6 years old and something’s hindering it. I appreciate any help you can give.
Maybe try planting comfrey at the base of your tree, comfrey sends roots down 8 to 10 feet and brings up nutrients from deep below. Excellent as a mulch, to make "garden tea" to water your plants and a source of protein if you have chickens or rabbits as part of their diet. Also has medicinal value for pain relieving salve.
An existing tree not grown under wood chips shouldn't be covered up to it's trunk in mulch as this can cause problems. If you are the trunk that was dry and air exposed all those years will now be constantly wet and you'll be giving pill bugs and other detritus eaters a free ride up to the now wet and moist bark on the trunk to eat and expose the tree to any bacteria, virus or parasitic fungi. Most arborists and Ag guides will teach folks to pull the mulch back from the immediate trunk area so it's not touching while keeping the rest of the ground over the tree roots heavily mulched when applying mulch to trees that never had it. It takes about three years for the wood chips to get going good unless you are starting with already composted chips. You don't till them in just leave them sitting on top of the ground. And until your years accrue and the insects balance each other out you'll get a decent amount of pill bugs and beetle larvae in the beginning though on a plus side you'll soon also see a lot of earthworms multiplying which is a very good thing for the soils future health. Fertilizer is OK to use in the establishment years as well as any treatments you may need to bring the trees right. You are in a transition phase so don't think it's quit cold turkey your old treecare methods. Think more weaning off slowly to the new way as the ecology starts to come online. Chlorosis is an iron deficiency if you really think you have that take a leaf into a nursery or Ag center for confirmation. Soil tests are also cheap compared to lost time and trees so that's a peace of mind. Yellow leaves in general are both signs of not enough watering and too much watering.
Thank you very much. I’ll surely give it a try.
It sounds like a soil deficiency. I have been composting under my apple tree for about a year now. I will probably start composting under my peach next. That is a sure way to improve the soil.
@@MyTexasYard I did add a little iron and manganese after doing my research, but I don’t like putting that stuff in the ground. I prefer the natural way. I appreciate the advice and enjoy the videos, keep ‘em coming. Subscribed😉
Can it work without manure added?
Short answer, I think it is possible.
If you create a year around eco system, the wildlife will come. It may take longer, but I bet it can work.
You can grow naturally in a raised bed.
There are no raised beds in nature. It’s pretty far from natural.
I’m trying hugelkulture in my raised beds. Got pretty fair results this year though the asparagus prolly didn’t have enough depth and did not flower. Right now I’ve got composted manure curing for the next round I’ll plant mid aug. Had success with a mini pumpkin in last years heat that I’ll try again. 90 days to maturity should give me pumpkins before thanksgiving and hopefully before the first frost! They were delicious last year but I learned not to leave them on my porch because they turned to mush when it froze. Another lesson learned! The beets did well as did carrots with nothing but my homegrown horsey compost🥰
You're intro is cute, fun, and clever. Except the music is so jarring on my nerves, I have to lower the volume a lot. Right now, it's still down because I'm worried you might assault my ears again. Could you try something less hard on the highly sensitive viewers? That would include autistic people, other neurodiverse people, others with complex PTSD, and those born with extra sensitivity that makes it hard to navigate this noisy world.
I do most of my editing on my phone. My phone speaker probably does not give me accurate sound levels. I’ll double check to make sure my volume is consistent throughout in future videos.
@@MyTexasYardyes, love the intro! in my opinion, the music choice was spot on for the scene, and the volume seemed fine to me on all 3 of my devices, and I don't like loud music...