Thank you for watching. Composting doesn't have to be a pain! Learn how to compost the easy way in my book Compost Everything: amzn.to/3zy4rYB Get my free composting booklet: www.thesurvivalgardener.com/simple-composting/ "Compost Your Enemies" T-shirts: www.aardvarktees.com/collections/vendors?q=The%20Survival%20Gardener

@frogsuitsman4853

2 жыл бұрын

Composting is my favorite part of my plant growing. My second favorite is building garden beds and my rectangular cube compost set ups for my worm employees. Digging is 3rd. Thank God for the woman who does this behavior called nurturing that a new type of person considers archaic. Not sure how much longer those types will be around. At least they're not keen on the whole "life" thing & feel more comfortable in an existential nightmare. Keep crushing David the Good. I've heard you praised by Owen Benjamin. You may have been on one of his streams a few years ago. If you were I heard it. He puts out a ton of good stuff. Esp being so banned from basically everything he and friends had to create their own content network. $5 a month and I rarely login bc somehow his Why Didn't They Laugh Podcast, which is where audio of his streams still goes, is still hosted on any podcast site. Def gonna learn from your videos. Terra preta is fascinating. 🤙.

@dl8619

2 жыл бұрын

Don't know how far you are from south west Georgia zone 8b but we do heavy mustard "Florida broadleaf " and clover cover crops and till them in ...it works wonders

@eliguaso22

Жыл бұрын

No more updates?

@stephanesejalon1680

Жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/hqyVq65-qtyfc9I.html je vous conseille cette petite vidéo de France (culture sur béton) bonne continuation dans vos projets

@brianclemetson8781

4 ай бұрын

Your soil will probably take 4 or 5 years to become a great soil base. I wonder if you lined the bottom(maybe sides to) with clay a good like 6 to 12" if that would with keeping water and your terra preta localized. Just a thought maybe another experiment. Clay is has all your nutrients besides zinc. Love and respect

There are two kinds of DTG fans. There are the kind who come for the gardening tips and stay for the star headed alien clips and there are the kind who come for the star headed alien clips and stay for the gardening tips.

@Roescoe

3 жыл бұрын

I'm trying to become the first, but I'm basically the second.

@baddriversofcolga

3 жыл бұрын

DTG does gardening tips? I thought the whole thing was about aliens.

@jtsloth

3 жыл бұрын

I agree, but I flop back and forth, depending on the subject.

@eSheeep

3 жыл бұрын

I came here for the gardening tips and stay for the digging.

@SuperStruct

3 жыл бұрын

I got way too stoned, resulting in being way too surprised after seeing that xD

I was expecting it to be black. Terra preta literally means black soil. But you got results, and that's what really matters! Good job, man. I'd say the key ingredient in your case is clay. I think that's what's really missing in this soil, that binding agent.

@danielhughes6896

3 ай бұрын

I think Terra preta has a lot more char then what he put in.

Ok so your Terra preta video inspired us to do one. We dug it about 2 1/2 -3 feet down and about 30 feet long. We burned some wood branches that were dead around the property with some fresh cut. Then we filled with layers of compost, eggs from my chicken, some hot chicken manure, seaweed from a day trip to the beach ( embarrassing my husband with trash bags full of rotting seaweed while walking on the beach), lava rock pieces from a day at the hot springs (again my husband embarrassed by my scavenging), rotting food scraps saved for a couple weeks, and a layer of cut grass on top until the last frost passed. Planted sunflowers, kale, corn, pumpkin, and zucchini. Looks like just about every seed has sprouted. 🤩😎🥳 thanks David!!!! My husband no longer will help me dig after going through a foot of rock, but maybe I can hire a local teen to help for the next one. ✅👍🏻 in the meantime, working on my vermicompost bin

@CariMachet

3 жыл бұрын

Tell your husband I said he needs to grow some

@davidthegood

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome!!!

@hoperules8874

2 жыл бұрын

I empathize with your hubby on that one...broke my favorite pick ax!

@kathleenmurray7423

Жыл бұрын

Can you compost a husband? ;)

@BigWesLawns

11 ай бұрын

​@@kathleenmurray7423David has a vid called compost everything, so I think thats a Go Ahead😂😂

I am so thrilled this is working! Terra preta is a great way to heal this earth! You are an inspiration, David 🌱🌎🌱

I am SHOCKED at this experiment, the learning, the HARD WORK the mind-blowing result. I'm sure glad that I have soil to work with, not "grit" You have earned the tomatoes that come off that bed!!!

I’m in western NY, Lake Erie shores. My grandparents got an old pear farm that the 90 thruway had cut in half 40 years ago. There was shale at the surface with scrub and trees growing. The mulched the weeds and cut the brush. My grandfather worked the weeds to lawn. As I child I remember the trashy lawn. We sold the property after there passing this year (2023) and have had issues for years getting stuck in the deep mud that’s where the shale used to be. The reinforced mulching seems to have just built up soil. My grandfather would just gather clippings and make piles for a few years and made soil of it. I think we just have to be determined to add time to what we do.

Great job on the terra pretta project! I knew it would be impressive! I never could grow much other than spaghetti squash until I started making bio char! Now my gardens and tree rows with different level crops are looking as good as anyone else’s. I am impressed with bio-char and the fetid swamp water on my little homestead. Gives me added incentive to burn brush and clean up the place a little too.

I just bought a plot of land on a sand dune in Florida. Its bad. I'm not even concerned with a crop this year - my only goal is to improve the soil. I'm composting greens, wood shavings, quail droppings and kitchen scraps with a fair bit of success thus far. Thanks for all the helpful tips man.

@benscanlan4818

3 жыл бұрын

well done. good luck

@davidthegood

3 жыл бұрын

Great work, Robert. Tough conditions.

On the sandy coastal plain of Perth, adding clay has made all the difference to the longevity of the changes to the soil nutrients. Changing the texture (clay plus sand) gradually develops toward sandy loam. Compost now seems to last and the soil is gradually darkening. Carbon is black!

I would really like a new update on this.

Hey man amazingly this has been passed down to us from my German ancestors. It’s like we all “know “ this. We even burn fish bones and add it in there. It’s the only way to grow in my area. Love your vids.

@davidthegood

2 жыл бұрын

I would love to see more on that.

Just imagine combining Hugelkulture, terra preta, and water harvesting by making the beds as berms to level swales

@gershhayes796

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, I have been thinking the same thing, if only David had some imagination, the possibilities would be possibly impossible to posit. Wow that's a lot of P..imagine.

@Jesus-qv5sw

2 жыл бұрын

I would just mix terra preta, leaf soil and fukuoka permaculture techniques to aboid damaging the soil.

@aaronlohr8477

2 жыл бұрын

@@Jesus-qv5sw That's why no one will remember your name.

@grantperkins368

2 жыл бұрын

Their place looks pretty flat, but he might get a couple in but , yes, swales rule :-)

@grantperkins368

2 жыл бұрын

@@gershhayes796 I don't think you're being fair, he is trying to provide for his family, he hasn't got unlimited funds and all day to play ... anyway, what's your gardening channel called?

I'm beginning to think David moves so much because he just loves the challenge of bad soil. He is good at.

Great video. I've just done a small pit burn to get rid of some old branches and to my surprise found clay chards in it this morning and I have not added any myself. Now I'm thinking that some of the Terra cotta particles found in Terra preta are naturally occurring....

i'm very happy it worked! I watched your 38 minute video creating the soil, and now this is making me so happy that it worked. This is the future of farming

My favorite intro so far.

My theory is that Terra Preta MAY have been created when the natives used cheap, hastily made clay pots to defecate/pee in and covered each "deposit" into the pot with charcoal to cover the smell (think compost toilet). They may have also put kitchen scraps and butchered animal remains in the pots and also covered them with charcoal. When the pots were full, they threw them into a pit and covered them and then planted atop of them. Anyways, just a wacky theory of mine.

@timothyblazer1749

Жыл бұрын

It's been tested to death, and we still don't know. The microbial life is unique, and no one has been able to replicate it. Yet. 😄

@pingpong9656

Жыл бұрын

@@timothyblazer1749 Maybe it comes from human and animal waste

@dostuffchannel

Жыл бұрын

Good theory!

@williamlong4997

Жыл бұрын

My theory is about like yours. They weren't doing anything but having our version of the old town dump. But when it turned into the garden of Eden, intelligent people that they were they made them their gardens.

@mafftv3801

8 ай бұрын

@@pingpong9656I think so

Excellent. Been waiting, so happy to have an update. Keep growing, friends. 🤓

Love the terra preta experiment. I'd like to see you keep pursuing this and following it on your blog. Keep up the good work.

I was surprised that you planted the new bed straight away in your experiment and am pleasantly surprised by the results you show here. I feel Sean of Edible Acres who doesn't have your grit issue, of course, achieves the same result in a slow and steady way by charging his walkways with charcoal, organic matter, and manure only to shave them onto the garden beds the next year and repeats the cycle year after year. This way he gets a similar soil fertility to plant on plus a drier raised bed to counter the wet conditions of his native location. Great lessons for me both ways.

Glad to see this video. Had wondered how it was growing after your multi-bed experiment. The results of that video, along with the taste test, was very interesting and helpful.

Thanks for the update David

Thank you for the update. I knew it was going to be amazing when I watched you creating the bed! I plan to do this here at Peace of Eden Homestead this spring, as much as I can, with all of the other projects I have going on. It's great to see that my efforts will be rewarded. Thanks again!

Thank you for the update. I have similar problems with the soil here. You have proven that it is totally worth it to work that hard.

You should invite some guys over for a bon fire and hand them all a shovel and show them where to dig. If you throw 3 or 4 parties a year before you know it you'll have a full acer of TP

Amazing results, David. I may just have to replicate this next season.

I was glad to see the update. I live in the northeastern part of Ohio north of where the lake used to be and we have a lot of clay. My yard is very fertile but my neighbor two doors down has very sandy soil. I have been adding grass clippings and leaves for a few years. I put down cardboard and the worms love it. I had thought about doing these things you have done but, it would be just a lot of work for not much more gain. I am adding biochar to my beds as well. Thank you for sharing. I watch all sorts of videos and even if I don't implement everything another person does, we can use some of it.

That's awesome!!! I can't wait to see how it holds up over time.

Great result. Now you have to dig all your gardens. I am planning on doing some this way and see the result, but by yours, no doubt it will be great.

Hi David, Found you looking into terra preta which I call biochar. Anyway, plant some poke weed near your brassicas. The bugs will eat them first. You won’t be disappointed. Also, I raked some pond weeds and used them for mulch and compost….A-MA-ZING.

Well..or Wow i should say. I have been making biochar since your first video on tera preta. I had seen stuff on it in the past an old shows from my child hood. I like fire and have plenty of wood around here to burn. and tons of stuff gets composted here. so i made 2 55 gallon drums of compost tea to soak it in. goes in ground next weekend!lol

@stephanievaladez5286

3 жыл бұрын

Make a video for us all to watch.

@_VICK_

3 жыл бұрын

Let us know how it goes!!!

Super great, thank you for this update David! You listened to the scientists!!! (the good ones)

You introduced me to the idea, and I built a small retort. Thanks! I'm going to try taking cores from beds and backfilling w charged char. Thanks for showing the wisdom!

@davidthegood

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome.

Thanks David. Good stuff! I'm working on making some biochar at the moment

That chopping the wood and plants for chop and drop is so satisfying.. LOL

Outstanding! Great to see that hard work producing fruit in abundance! Hilarious outtake at the end!

Nice update, can’t argue with results👍🏻

It will keep getting better as the years go by.

I'm glad you did an update.

Wood chips are what I use in The Panhandle- I started TP this year and have been a fan over raised beds. The insects are about to kick up- this cool spring has kept them in check, once we stay 90* it's going to be tough to keep the sand away.

I'm happy that all the work (admirable!) you did building the soil is paying you back > you deserve it! Looking forward/catching up ✌️

Awesome update!

Your outfit is heroic. Great video thank you even better the second time a year later, Sir. Clay is paramount it's the glue that holds the sand together!

Fantastic video! As soon as the first one came out, I started collecting my charcoal and have added it to my compost. It seems to accelerate the process but that just be wishful thinking on my side.

@davidthegood

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you. Good work.

WOW! The difference between the tomatoes and broccoli planted in the Terra Preta row vs. the row planted in the yechy, sandy soil, and that's considering the broccoli has taken quite a beating from bugs, but bugs know a good thing when they see it. Liked and on to the end of April Garden Tour! :)

Ok, going to try a version of this in our garden bed(central Florida, South of Orlando) Same problems here, if it is not a pot or raised bed, it does not want to grow in the sand.

Hello David The Good we need to hear from you on the different types of soil so we'll know how to fix the soil to grow vegetables and different things in the garden 👍

As far as I understand and what I would guess is that the charcoal is increasing surface area at a microbiology level increasing beneficial bacteria and air area increasing the VOC "organic matter" consumption in the soil which would release more fertility but would also use it up quicker and why I suggested a 50/50 mix of dense organic matter "wood chips" and powdered activated charcoal.

I'm also in lower alabama, down near the coast, and I think Im going to give this a shot with my acreage, bit by bit.

the song at the end is called "Burried my rabbit neath the cherry tree" by David the good

I'm in fl. and quite familiar with the problems you mention,, unfortunately, working on creating something worth while, this is encouraging!! thank you!

Impressive results. 👍

Time to rent a backhoe! WHEW! THIS is amazing!!!

My theory is it was a trash dump for the purpose of creating the soil. Sewage and the parts of fish and game that wasn't used or eaten. The charcoal is the trick. I really think worms are what keeps it going. If you mentioned worms I missed it. That is why I'm writing you. Worms!

Man! you have some of the best content! thanks for sharing , and for doing what you do!

@davidthegood

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you.

/pauses this video to go rewatch the ‘David the Digger’ song again/

@Glabe87

3 жыл бұрын

Me, too...

@rakelflowers

3 жыл бұрын

is that the song at the end? cause I would love to have it in a standalone video that I can listen to whenever I want

@carsonmorris2708

19 күн бұрын

@@rakelflowers burried my rabbit neath the cherry tree by david the good

You've got it. Some people thing it's the char only. You've got all the 4 components, char, pottery, bones and some compostables. That provides a paramagnetic microbe paradise home. It's the microbes that will continue to build for a very long time.

@grantperkins368

2 жыл бұрын

And wood chips. Good, composted wood chips, applied regularly. No till. Like nature. No bare earth. Can't beat it.

@Norbingel

Жыл бұрын

What do bones do for the soil?

@Greg-McIver

Жыл бұрын

@@Norbingel they allow electrical charges to gather and channel in the soil.

@Norbingel

Жыл бұрын

@@Greg-McIver I thought biochar did that?

@Greg-McIver

Жыл бұрын

@@Norbingel , biochar gives a place for microbes and moisture to live.

I'm really interested in trying this out as well... I want to add some ferments additionally I think. 🤔 Is there an update? Did it keep up? Thank you for trying it out and documenting it for us, David! 🙏😊

I may try something like this in a large pot. Makes me feel like I'm doing science or something! 👍

@_VICK_

3 жыл бұрын

You could probably use the soil for potted plants

Stunning difference.

Congrats on your success! And thanks for the star headed alien ad. xD

WOW!!! Awesome!!! TY DTG

Thanks for the update - very inspiring! What about 1.5-2ft deep and then 1-1.5 raised?

This is the best freakin show.

Looks awesome. This is the kind of thing that should only get better over time too.

You have an infectious laugh! Every time you giggle I’m giggling with you even If I have no idea what you’re talking about 😂

can u give update on this bed please,fascinating

thanks for the biochar videos. :D My three beds where i dug up the soil and filled it with compost and biochar, were the best this season. Its like they were almost never out of energy! The other beds on the other hand, got really dry at some point. And there was no nutrients left, later in the season. I def know which method im gonna use in the next years. ;) Greetings from Switzerland

TY, for the update still trying to figure out how to burn wood without having my child with no cause/effect thinking not end up in the ER. But I still listen and hope to do biochar of my own in the hopefully near future. ASMR of water spraying into kiddie pool in the beginning was satisfying to my 7 year old self inside longing for a care free summer.

@carolynsteele5116

3 жыл бұрын

Maybe watch the MIGardener video where he makes biochar by charging ready-made store-bought charcoal. I’ve seen that charcoal in red bags at Walmart and Family Dollar.

@yadealone

3 жыл бұрын

As Carolyn replied. I bought a 30 lb bag of 'Royal Oak lump charcoal from Walmart, It was very inexpensive. MiGardener is where I heard about it. I am in the city and have no way to burn for biochar. I have just broken up pieces to a little smaller. Watch for the dust. In my raised beds I did not take time to inoculate it in compost or worm tea water but I will with the rest of the biochar. See my comment I just made. I plan to put it in my potted plants too. Probably with a small broomstick handle make holes. Drop in some soaked charcoal pieces or small trowel. I still need to experiment. Good luck on your gardening. .

@SouthFloridaSunshine

3 жыл бұрын

@@yadealone Thank you for sharing your tip. I needed it for the horrible smelling d.f. swamp water I am making.

@yadealone

3 жыл бұрын

Oh wow! Recently I bought some galvanized raised bed planters. I didn’t want to wait a couple of weeks for the biochar and compost water, etc. i.e. swamp water to sit and inoculate the biochar. I put the biochar or lump charcoal mixed with other things layered into my raised beds. Also, breaking up the bio char can definitely be dusty. I put some into several garbage bags closed it and used a hammer to break it up into slightly smaller pieces. It definitely is not to a dust. I will be experimenting with inoculating it and making swamp water as you said. Enjoy your Terra Preta adventure!

Good Job!

Dave from Florida Here Also!

Thank you so much for this update! Very inspiring. (I'm betting that it will last)

David have you heard of anyone trying terra preta in the Midwest? I’m fixing to try it this summer.

Thanks mate !!!!

woah. I want to do this. Gonna binge watch the Terra Preta video.

I definitely want to try this. When soil is turned it disrupts the soil structure. I saw on "Leaf of Life" channel they used a tool with six 18 inch machetes lined up to aerate the soil without turning. On that project they went down about two feet and never walk on the soil. The charcoal can hold a lot of water etc and does not decompose.

Stunning difference! Worth the effort if it lasts for years, not for a year or two. Great experiment that may change the way farmers grow crops in marginal ground. Bad for the trees though, but they are renewable. Can you make biochar using bamboo? Wouldn’t that be great! Someone will open a business selling biochar and do really well.

David and other gardeners - I Wonder If: Terra Preta can be partially created, added to an an existing no dig garden and landscape topped with wood chips. My plan is as follows. I have a no dig garden, fruit trees and flowers on one side of the yard. Front yard is CA natives, many flowers and low water plants, established 2 years. I want to take a pitch fork one area at a time and put lump charcoal that I have pulverized small pieces sprinkled over the area. I don't want to dig as plants are established. I figure some charcoal will fall down the holes. I will add compost tea watering the area hoping it will go down the holes inoculating the biochar. Or I may place a pitchfork in ground and lightly raise the dirt then put some charcoal, then compost or worm tea and tamp it down throughout the front yard.. Just thought the biochar or lump charcoal down 7 or 8 " would help with watering less than I do now. My garden is already pretty low water. Where I live in CA we already face a drought. Hopefully it will create a partial terra preta front yard. Maybe I am hopeful the biochar will improve the water retention.

Howdy everyone, Dave here from Montana

Keep up the experiments! Itll be cool if you can figure it out!

That's amazing!

There must be something about fired clay that certain plants like (I'm not going to go as far as to say every plant). Just today, I was transplanting some canna lilies from one area of the garden to another. The biggest specimens by far were growing on a very thin layer of soil covering a buried pile of bricks while the cannas not growing on top of the bricks weren't as big. It is almost like the cannas purposely sought out the pile of bricks to have even spread over there. Go figure.

@davidthegood

3 жыл бұрын

Good observation, Bill.

@stephanievaladez5286

3 жыл бұрын

Bill, to you think that the brick was holding water?

@thdn8127

3 жыл бұрын

@@stephanievaladez5286 I thought the same, it's the porosity. That means that lower construction grade brick would work better due to the higher porosity, which leads to a lower strength. Earthenware would also be porous & maintain that porosity over time even with the soil weight above.

@truthseeker9688

Жыл бұрын

Interesting.

I really appreciate the follow-up on your terra preta results! Very awesome!

Hey just finding your channel. If your soil is crazy sandy like that instead of feeding from the soil use those same dry amendments along with worm castings and organic blackstrap molasses and brew a compost tea and feed them through waterings.

Intro had me hooked

David, how do you think the soil in your area came to look like that? Was it overfarming or industrial farming done sometime in the past?

Very impressive! 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱😃

Awesome!!

try powdering/grinding your bio-char would be labor intensive but would magnify its effects exponentially

Regarding insect pests... for some reason my yard spontaneously grew all these cute little wildflowers called tansy. Apparently it repels insects. Then the light on my patio went out. And I never changed the light bulb as we have a string of pink Christmas lites that are much nicer than the light bulb. At any rate, last summer, the patio was an insect paradise. After I learned about those cute little tansy’s that I allowed to grow all over the place, I cut some and placed them around the patio where they dried ... they sat there for a good couple months... I am organizing and cleaning the patio and decided to chuck those... I hadn’t really thought much about the insects... but I noticed that we absolutely do not have insects this year. I mean literally every night you could not be on the patio without fighting off cock roaches or Beatles that look like them... and the spiders loved it. Other than a few crickets and the odd spider web... there is nearly zero insect life this year... was it the tansy or the lack of light or both? Or something else? Bear in mind that there is still a good amount of light around the windows that used to be bordered in spider webs... but also, I let the spiders do their thing and maybe they helped to deplete the food source ... More research must be done... however I am now completely fascinated with tansy and welcome it to the yard like most people welcome poppies.

@TrickleCreekFarm

6 ай бұрын

It used to be commonly planted at the base of fruit trees to repel insects, sadly it’s a lost knowledge and many places it has been considered a noxious weed. It has been used dried & kept on socks to put in sleeping bags for those adventuring outdoors and even in other countries with great success.

Did you put the lime in the coconut? I've heard that is what you are supposed to do.

@lynnwhite3503

3 жыл бұрын

Hahahahahah

I think the urine soaked biochar close to the surface is a big part of what did the trick here. urine grows plants very well for some reason.

@a_l_e_k_sandra

3 ай бұрын

That some reason is called nitrogen.

How about another update on the terra preta bed?

WOW Impressive

My guess is the biochar is whats doing it and giving the results, cause it absorbs water and nutrients and holds it where the plants have access to it

Another thing that worked for me in South MS was obviously raised beds, but we had tree companies drop off their wood chips from chipped up limbs. We let it compost on property for about 5-6 months then we'd use it. Compost, cardboard, wood chips, then added worms from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. It was by far the most difficult soil to get started, but the clay has every nutrient the plants need. Once they have a living fungal system, the fungus breaks down clay and rock, and feeds them to the plants. Ground beds are difficult to keep covered. This was in 2014 when I started that property, same year I got trained up by Geoff Lawton.

Hi just came accross your channel, can you plesse share the bed prepration date and sowing date for your tomatoes?

Awesome!

Hey everyone, Dave here from the Pacific Ocean.