This is all great advice. I've tried to garden as cheaply as possible for most of my gardening experience, and your methods are great. You could even get away with almost all native soil in the raised bed (as long as it's not like pure clay) and only amend the planting holes like most people would do while planting a flower next to their house. I've done this before (the soil has high silt content) and although it's not ideal you will notice an improvement every year. It's a slower process, but hardly costs anything. I have also seen tomatoes grown in a raised bed made from a half of a hollow, old growth poplar log that at one point in time was about 5 or 6 feet in diameter. The media was 100% wood chips that were chipped literally earlier that week, mostly hardwood (even a small amount of black walnut) but also contained a small portion of eastern white pine. They showed signs of nitrogen deficiency, but they produced tomatoes that were still good. The main thing is to give them the nutrients they need, like you said, after all hydroponic gardening is a thing. As far as reusing potting soil, I think it's actually superior to fresh, and anyone interested in "terra preta" should experiment with it. I have left potting soil in their pots for years after the original plant died, and let nature take it's course and fill the pot with weeds, worms, ants, or whatever. The soil becomes this beautiful black crumbly material that is similar to the description of "terra preta." My favorite thing to do as far as preparing potting soil is concerned, is take some of those pots, weed them thoroughly, including all roots, and mix them into fresh potting soil to inoculate it with whatever is in the earlier soil, rather than adding store bought mycorrhizae.

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

This is such a lovely comment - thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. I love reading about other gardeners experiences trying out methods that break the "rules" of gardening =). I didn't mention this explicitly in the video but I wanted to do this content because I find it frustrating how much new gardeners are pushed to spend huge money on expensive raised beds and expensive soils. I really think it turns people off the pursuit when they run the numbers. We can't fill a raised bed full of our soil because of the clay content but a few bags of manure and wood chips are laughably cheap to make that same soil super productive =) And I 100% agree - much better to use soil that has native worms and microorganisms to inoculate new beds than bagged versions.

Very useful content, thank you. I appreciate your perspective on using native garden soil, wood chips, and old potting soil. I tend to re-use old potting soil - if I’m lazy I just remove a good chunk of the old plant roots, then add chicken manure and vermicompost on top (or in the new planting hole), along with a little bit of organic fertilizer. If I’m not lazy, I’ll mix everything up separately before filling up the planting container(s). Sometimes if I have a Rubbermaid tote bin available, I’ll dump in old potting soil, some chopped up plant remnants or kitchen scraps, and a good handful of worms from the worm bin. Wait 3 months or so and it’s good to go again with the addition of a little organic fertilizer.

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

I love both methods you describe here! The first is pretty much what we do as well - remove the plant, add aged manure and vermicompost, fertilizer, plant, then mulch. If the soil has gone compact, we'll give it a few turns with the garden fork too (especially for root crops). Thank you for sharing and for reusing your materials =)

I treated my seedlings with a micorrhizal rich drench. For the soil I used StaGreen Garden soil from Lowes, I added perlite and vermiculite and organic fertilizer to the mix. Once the seedlings were planted and starting to grow, I mulched with mus h room compost.

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like a good process! Hope they're growing great!

Love how you always have scholarly references, rather than just tossing 'facts' out w/o support. Also WOO, just noticed you've gone up like 14k+ subscribers since I first noticed. Congrats!

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

Oh well thank you for noticing! Especially for these topics where I go against the grain a bit, it's fun to dig into the research =)

So glad I found your channel!!! So helpful!!!

@NextdoorHomestead

4 ай бұрын

And I'm so glad to hear it! Hope your garden is off to a roaring start =)

Your perspective is REALLY needed in the age of "spending more=better"❤

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

We're nothing if not cheap in the garden ;) Thanks for watching!

@clarkl4177

Жыл бұрын

🤔 "Cheap" can have some unpleasant connotations 🙄 I prefer " resourceful" 😎

@bobcaldwell5810

Жыл бұрын

I prefer to use "frugal" rather than "cheap" in circumstances like this. They mean essentially the same thing, yet cheap carries the connotation that it's somehow inferior quality, when all you're really saying is it cost less 😉

This is just what I needed man! I'm going to need ~96 cubic feet of soil and the good stuff is prohibitively expensive. Putting raised beds together in the next month or so with plans to fully plant next spring. I love the idea of "seeding" them with worms, and since I'm not in a rush I think I'm going to try a cover crop too. Keep it up buddy! Cheers!

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

Ah, that is awesome! Glad we could throw out a few ideas. I've come to enjoy growing the cover crops for their own sake honestly - it's fun building this huge, dense stand of green mass. Not great for soil building, but we let some of our cover crops grow full size and flower over winter and spring and they were a blast. Like a flowery, bee-filled jungle for kids =)

Awesome video. I don't even like seeing perlite in the outdoor garden, it makes me aware I'm spending money and dependent on supply lines. I moved to zone 8 and have been working to naturally amend the sandy, rocky soil which seems like a river bed. Go wood chips, boo unsustainably sourced peat moss!

@NextdoorHomestead

11 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching! I do generally prefer amending our in-ground soil (tough clay) too but sometimes pots and raised beds are just the right fit ya know? =)

I laugh when people don't use their potting soil. I put it in my garden and it helps to make the soil fluffy

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

Definitely works as a soil amendment too!

Fantastic video

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

Ah, thanks for that! Was fun to make too =)

I love watching your videos, it’s like going to gardening school. I’ve been watching your cucumber videos. Would you please give your top 3 cucumber types. I like in zone 5 but we always get hot summers

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

Oh, I just love hearing that! So glad they've been informative. I quite like Corinto and Unagi this year. Corinto is more productive but Unagi has better flavor. Otherwise, depending on your climate, I like growing one of the beit alpha varieties but it can take some experimentation to find one that's a good fit.

I've been doing something similar for years, but always felt guilty that maybe I was doing the wrong thing but it was cheap and I haven't had too much drop off from production. Thanks for the advice.

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

No problem at all. I am 100% about saving money wherever possible =)

With woodchips, I would not mix fresh woodchips with soil. Maybe it makes sense to use them as a bottom layer which is almost like hugelkulture or core gardening, or mainly as a top layer mulch. I only mix woodchips in with soil if its aged and almost rotting. But I have seen someone who used horse manure mixed with woodchips, neither are composted yet, and still got great results, the manure helps in this case. So my experience is if you are going to mix in fresh woodchip and want to plant right away you need to fertilize additionally the first year to compensate. Like you said, in the video, if you can wait, growing cover crop and letting the worms help break down the organic matters, then the soil will be much better next year. I have terrible experience with cheap garden soil, it took me a long time to turn them good with adding compost and lots of fertilizing. I actually prefer topsoil and amend it with compost than to buy cheap garden soil especially because they have biosolids in them, which is hidden behind the ingredient 'compost' in the labeling. A word on coconut coir, it severely tied up nutrients if mixed in soil and need a lot of fertilizing. You could mix the coir with manure or compost and let it sit for a few months to age, but overall I avoid the product completely, it probably have more use in hydroponic growing. There are some brands that sell aged coir like FoxFarms but it's expensive and not worth spending the money. Here in the midwest there are aged fine size pine bark, which is different from fresh large nuggets. I used it to mulch my garden path for the last few year and now the soil below is amazing. It is also a good alternative to perlite or as an additional ingredient in making your own potting mix.

Thank you so much for this helpful information! Question: do you need to wait a year to use these raised bed recipes before planting?

@NextdoorHomestead

19 күн бұрын

Nope! But your results will definitely depend on what you're growing and whether you're in a climate where you need good drainage vs. good water retention. We planted some lovely zucchini in this last year if I recall.

can you add the amazon link for the bed? Thanks!

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

Definitely! We picked up these ones: www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJKD8YYY? They are the right size for our space and I like the look but I can't speak to how well they hold up (just to be transparent!). Price seems fair though. Happy gardening =)

Can I use the pine wood chips from my chicken coop? Already mixed! 😂

@carolminot7186

22 күн бұрын

😂

Whatever you do, don’t fill the bottom half of your bed with fresh grass clippings (too much nitrogen). Don’t ask how I know.

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

Hahaha yeahhhhhh. Grass clippings go into the compost for me. They just mat too easily unless they're really nice and broken down by the rainy season.

Says they will add timestamps…does not add timestamps.

@SomethingWyqued

4 ай бұрын

Option 2 is at 8:25, for anyone else looking.

@NextdoorHomestead

4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the note!

@yourmomwearscombatboots7905

2 ай бұрын

Whatever you do, don't say anything nice about the great info he's handing out. Jeez. Just complain. 😮

Worms rule 👍🏼🪱😃

@NextdoorHomestead

Жыл бұрын

Yeah they do!!! Although my castings never look as beautiful and finished as yours!