I'm kind of nerdy when it comes to gardening and have more time than money. I agree on a large scale there's more advantage to buying in seed starter but I enjoy the process and experiment😁

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

I mean, definitely don't stop doing it if it's something you enjoy! 100%

@ChickenNugNugz2

2 жыл бұрын

I fully sympathize with this comment. For my small scale allotment, I love spending days out there mixing my soil and compost and adding different amendments. Makes me feel like a mad scientist

@MynewTennesseeHome

2 жыл бұрын

@@ChickenNugNugz2 🙂

@williemasterofdestruction5339

2 жыл бұрын

I really enjoy the experimentation too. I would like to branch out into horizonal soil systems as taught by Leighton Morrison.

@MynewTennesseeHome

2 жыл бұрын

@@williemasterofdestruction5339 I'll have to look that up. I grow in several methods depending on soil and topography.

I'm a newbie gardener but I make my own mixes. Even bought an electric cement mixer to make life easier on the back and for a more thorough mix. I enjoy it. 🇦🇺✌️

@ivyclark70

6 ай бұрын

Great idea! 😂

All great information and I love addressing the downfalls too. Keeping it honest is appreciated.

Hi from Germany and I use commercial compost for the nursery. Later I add alfalfa pellets and my own vermicompost mixture made from tons of horse manure, leaves, grass clippings, rock dust... to the plants. This year I start experiments with chitosan from crab shells and mycorrhiza.

@ddachilles1

2 жыл бұрын

Where are you located Kati?

I love all this neediness!! We have horses who board on our farm, so we have a big source of manure and we are still trying to work out the best nerdy composting process for us. I try not to buy in seed starting mix, but it’s not always doable depending on the season and what is ready on our farm. Thank you for the perspective, let the nerds lead the way!

I have to say Thankyou. Because of your recommendations I invested in a soil blocker. I use promix, add perlite and worm castings. And I will never go back. Much improvement on my starts.

Really like Coast of Maine's Platinum mix for starts and soil blocks but still make lots of my own nerdy mix and let it sit over the winter in the basement.

@melissamoore521

2 жыл бұрын

Johnny Poux, Soil Rue! =.)

I'm reading your book! I've been taking notes and connecting the ideas and information together really trying to understand how they relate and build upon each other. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm learning a lot! Love the illustrations as well. They remind me of the old school children's books like Peter Rabbit.

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

Awesome to hear! My wife did those illustrations so I will make sure to pass that along 🙌

Starting a worm bin is the best way to get awesome worm castings for a home garden. And if you can get black soldier flies to show up they make the castings even better. Soldier flies will even turn meat into compost, they're amazing. Organic kitchen trash is great for feeding red wigglers and black soldier flies. And the fly larvae are great for feeding chicken or fish. So my aquaponics system benefits from my worm bin too.

Great video. We started out market gardening (we still do but its now our lab) and transitioned into a worm farm and composting operation including producing a living soil potting mix. You perfectly captured who to trust with your compost. Look for the passion. If you don't get a nerd alert, maybe keep shopping ;)

@jeanfrisone5794

2 жыл бұрын

Where are you located?

Excellent video. So much information I wasn't aware of. Great perspective and commentary. Go with the nerds in compost and generally in life ;) Cheers Jesse from Victoria Canada

I have gone back and forth about this on my own farm and I have to agree with the video. I work alone and have to save time vs money in order to accomplish everything necessary to be successful. For me it costs more to make my own potting soil vs buying it. Good video.

Yep, I agree, I make my own mix using Eliot Coleman recipe by the wheel barrow load. A bit labor intensive for my 1/4 acre garden. I’ll be buying a tote of mix next year hopefully.

I’m a small scale farmer and have done both. You are always balancing time vs money. At the moment I am so busy the time cost to diy my soil mix right now is too high and would rather spend money on pre made mix currently. I would still make me own at times but during busiest season it just eases my work load to have pro mix delivered and get right into starting.

This year I have decided to reuse my potting soil.. I am gathering all that is tossed into the compost bin and amending it for next years use to cut down on costs..

Thanks for this video, it's an amazing resource!

What are your thoughts on vermiculite? It fluffs up the soil but supposedly never breaks down because its a mineral compound. Regarding peat and carbon: if you want to offset the carbon of your peat purchase, make some biochar from tree clippings etc. When used properly in the soil, the carbon in the char will be locked-in for over 1,000 years while adding immense fertility to your soil that will be there for generations. For small gardens, it is possible to grow your own moss on stacked acidic clay trays, dry it and use it as you do peat. It's extremely small scale but is easy to do once set up. I'm still experimenting with this myself.

@gekkobear1650

Жыл бұрын

For me, it's not just about the carbon emissions of the peat I use. It's about extraction potentially destabilizing that ecosystem. I'm not gonna tell anyone to never buy peat but it's not necessarily reducible to 1 time carbon emissions

@bradical2723

Ай бұрын

Peat moss removal releases tons of co2 into the air.. there is nothing you can do to "offset" that...

Great info, thanks for sharing.

A sidenote on peat & carbon (without knocking your stance): Peat bogs are different in that the anaerobic conditions lock in the carbon near-indefinitely, as opposed to soil organic matter, which is part of the carbon cycle. Adding the peat into your soil via starts does not conserve the carbon in the same category as a functioning peat bog, even if you could do it completely without loss and process emission. The moment you drain the bog, you have added carbon to the active circulation, no matter your specific end use (unless that end use locks it in salt caverns). Think of using a fossil fuel (peat) instead of a circulated carbon (wood) to heat your home. Both use carbon, one is ecologically almost-neutral, the other very damaging. So while careful handling is nice, its not doing anything to address the specific climate concern about peat.

@dogslobbergardens6606

2 жыл бұрын

I got away from peat moss for the environmental concerns and because I was having problems with mixes in 5-gal containers getting anaerobic. So I started using coco coir instead. It was more costly, but it worked a LOT better for me. And it's sustainable, right? Well... sort of. But not really. I'm in TN and all the coco is shipped in from overseas. So every time I buy a brick or bag of coco it took X-amount of fossil fuels to get it here. It also turns out that the labor practices involved in producing the coco coir are, shall we say, not optimal. All right, crap, I stop buying that, too. Now what? Most bagged soils are frankly garbage and the really good stuff is REAL pricy and it's all trucked in from somewhere else. And oh yeah, there's going to be a big pile of (usually) plastic bags for me to get rid of. OK, I'll make all my soil mix using locally-sourced old manure and skip the peat and coco, I'll use more leaf litter and so on to keep it fluffy. The manure is still trucked to my property but not nearly so much fuel is used. My mix isn't as nice as the really good stuff made by pros, but it's a whole lot cheaper, so on my small scale, I can work with that. That's great... until you get a load of manure (or compost or hay) that's contaminated with persistent herbicides, and now you've got a couple tons of absolute garbage you have to either truck back off the property or just pile it up in a corner, cross your fingers and hope it doesn't contaminate your water table while it takes 2-3 years to finally break down and be safe to use. And all that applies to purchased soil mixes as well. You're still burning some amount of diesel or gas just to get it there, and do you REALLY know it's safe and herbicide-free? It's often very difficult for soil and compost companies (or municipal programs) to really know for certain if the materials they're composting are safe and clean to begin with. Lab testing is very costly. I imagine - or at least hope - the more thoughtful companies are at least doing some testing with plants to make sure their finished product isn't contaminated, so that's def something to ask your supplier about. It's.... frustrating. We all want to be more green and sustainable, obviously; that's why most of us are into things like no-till to begin with. But the more I learn about it, the more I realize it's a lot more complicated than it seems at first to be really, truly "green" or "sustainable."

@williamkennedy6423

2 жыл бұрын

I admire your concern for helping our environment. However, peat bogs don't even account for 1% of the carbon footprint. Everyone wants to help via insignificant ideas, like changing their growing medium from peat to something else, but not many people are willing to take a good look at curbing major contributors to the carbon footprint, such as fossil fuels, or petroleum usage to be specific. You shouldn't complain about peat use if you're driving anywhere other than work, buying groceries or for emergencies. Then we get into electric vehicles, which are charged via energy generated primarily from fossil fuels. Another story for another day, but all of these contribute more to the carbon footprint than peat usage ever could. It's all about money covering up real issues, and theres just not that level of money in peat.

@dogslobbergardens6606

2 жыл бұрын

@@williamkennedy6423 it all kind of piles up you when you really think it through, doesn't it? I completely understand that my little homestead and a million more like will not really "save the planet." The view I take is that at least we're doing some harm-reduction. That's what keeps me from just tearing my hair out and giving up.

@williamkennedy6423

2 жыл бұрын

@@dogslobbergardens6606 I completely agree that every bit helps, but one larger bit helps more than many smaller bits. Everyone seems to look at the easy ways to help instead of reducing the major contributors. I believe we need to be looking more towards energy generation from renewable sources, which are less efficent and would require us to quite simply use less energy per person. In short, I feel that most people complaining about peat are hypocritical, as they're not willing to sacrifice their lifestyle/comfort for a more significant impact.

@dogslobbergardens6606

2 жыл бұрын

@@williamkennedy6423 there's definitely a point to that. It doesn't do much good to recycle your beer cans if you drive a big empty truck getting 11MPG to the store to get more beer. I get that for sure.

I mix my own 75% peatmoss to about 12% compost and 12% soil. I put up a new fence last year and bought a small cement mixer. I was planning on selling it as soon as the fence posts were done, but I found it SO much of a help mixing soil. I use it for mixing compost into the soil in my raised beds as well as for making up my seed starting mix. I know that kind of goes against the no till philosophy but the excellent results I got speak for themselves.

Awesome Video as Always!!

In the Uk there's a big move away from peat. Lots of good results coming from composted woodchip based composts. Its something that is readily available from local waste sources.

2nd year Leaf mould, Worm Castings, Perlite, Azomite, Kelp meal, bokashi grain and peat moss = phinominal results in my context.

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like a solid mix!

Really timely video for me. First year trying that exact soil blocker, with a self-made mix because I really hate the thought of using peat. Mixed success, in part because I watered them with a watering can, probably washing out some uncovered seeds ... not yet sure if any of the failed germinations / seedlings are due to my mix, but I suspect they might be.

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

What was in your mix in place of peat?

@nathanr2912

2 жыл бұрын

It’s reeealllly hard to get a good block without peat in my experience so far. I’ve been messing with pine bark, Pitt moss (recycled cardboard and newspaper that looks like cellulose insulation), and well decomposed wood as subs for peat. They work decently but the compression of blocking has been hard to get right - the other materials don’t have as much “spring” as good coarse peat moss

This year I gathered composted goat manure/hay about a year old and added garden dirt that has had about 15 years of organic material added from the farm or mulch. It is decent but not no till. Since the material was intended to start seeds, we took a chance. I have had poor results over the years with store bought mixes. The compost was aerobic and healthy. Happily, the seeds came up quickly and are doing well so far. If they need a boost before going into no till garden, I use compost tea. This saved me time and money!

I did my own mix this year and the LABOR wow I didnt even mix that much, cant imagine the 2 tons you were talking about

I was having average results with my own mix until i started added worm castings. My mix is simple. Sifted compost (usually my own), perlite, sand and worm castings. Getting really good results now. I use knf inputs for added nutrition until its time to plant out.

So many mistakes I’ve made on this subject. Lol! I have made my own which has been good except for the labor of course. Tho, it tends to go moldy easily and kills tender babies, it’s difficult if you only have sub par compost to work with or if you have to germinate in a house. I’ve bought soil mix that was contaminated w herbicides, and I’ve bought some Baby Bu’s which I thought was soil mix I’d tested from that company last year but Baby Bu’s is NOT the seedling mix, it’s their raised bed mix, named BABY bu’s. So, read labels, lol! Seems best if it has peat or coco coir, perlite or the like, good compost, some natural fertilizer and of course worm castings. Thanks for all you do! Keep rockin’

Last year I started my seeds in two mediums. One that I created, the other Miracle Grow. My mix grew nice plants. The Miracle Grow grew mold and killed everything!

I grew perennial flowers professionally in the 1990’s. I started everything with Pro Mix from Premier Tech. Easy to use, just wet with warm water and plant! Add liquid fertilizer once sprouted. If starting a large amount of plants, it absolutely does not make sense to waste that time making a starting mix when so many good options are available. Even that I now have scaled back to “hobby farm” status, I still use Pro Mix. Expensive, but worth it for me.

That’s beautiful !!!💯♥️🥰💯🙏

Respect from Africa 🇿🇦

I actually live in ohio and I’m very interested in where you get your soil from, you mention tilled soil, can you give a little more info on it. As always thanks a million for your book and all the info!

Good video!

Great video, solid points. Here in Southern California home made compost is going to beat 95% of available OMRI bulk blends. So much plastic and trash makes it through the green waste recyclers, and the fir based composts are so woody and not-finished they'll lock up your soil for quite a while. I'm in a very rural area of CA and my best compost available is bagged OMRI worm castings that work out $312/yard. Its ludicrous expensive but its 100% finished black gold without trash. The stories of bad compost loads seem to be proliferating. Though my soil is extremely poor I'm still cautious what I import into it because I don't want to cause myself more problems. I wish I could find these "biologically aware" compost makers because around here its a front end loader, a few hoses, a tub grinder and a sifter at a 100% outdoor facility.

@nathanr2912

2 жыл бұрын

Quite a few biologically aware composters use the equipment you describe. I don’t know who in southern CA though :/

@evanbyrne4433

2 жыл бұрын

@@nathanr2912 Agreed, I guess I meant to say the compost operations I'm familiar with aren't doing anything other than a fixed water/turn/sift protocol. Most operations probably aren't even aware of the practice of using a microscope to analyze compost. If it looks dark and is breaking down it fits the bill as compost.

@TheDuckofDoom.

2 жыл бұрын

I'm in west WA and get similar "yard waste" composts containing trash. End of winter they are very wood heavy(fir especially) and can lock up some N, June you hit the peak grass clipping ratio. I still don't trust yard waste to be totally free of herbicide residues but aging an extra 6 months will breakdown any of the residues from the currently retail-available herbicides. (Farm areas with pesticide licenses are a different matter. All suburban in this discussion.) As for N tie up in semi finished woody compost, don't use it for seeding and only apply 1/4 inch per grow season to beds, which is enough to maintain a stable organic matter percent in temperate climates.(though it may not give the nutrient hit needed by row crops, the soil texture and biology will be satisfied.)

@evanbyrne4433

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheDuckofDoom. Given the pervasive problems with compost and its availability I am beginning to think the best way for most gardeners to build organic matter is through organic fertilizers and cover crops. Its much easier to grow 100% clean pure organic matter than it is to get clean compost. Compost from external sources is not needed to have a great garden.

Thank you!

Unfortunately some regions don't have any quality potting mix available. the only stuff we have around here is the mass produced brands from the big box store. every one of them has given poor results. most are half fine wood chips. we've been making our own mix for our farm and, your right.. its alot of work. its definitely a task that lends itself to scale and heavy equipment. we need more entrepreneurs getting into the composting/ potting soil business. there is room. also, as far as peat alternatives.. It seems like municipal leaf mould would be a good alternative. i wish i could get some!

I make my own potting mix because most pre mixed soil only has the bare minimum in it and will not grow nutrient dense food. I'm not just after good growth. I cant find a pre mixed soil that has even close all the stuff I use. Here is my mix. I use Bu's blend compost. Coast of main has an comparable compost but make sure you get the pure compost not the soil mix. I mix the Bu's compost/ Coast of main compost with peat moss and lava rock or pumice. 1 part of peat moss 1 part lava rock or Pumice Stone, and 1 part Bu's compost. Then add these amendments Here is what I use for amendments mixed into my peat, lava, compost blend. All amendments listed are per 1 cubic foot of soil or about 7.5 gallons. 1 cup kelp meal 1 cup alfalfa meal 1/2 cup Neem meal 1/2 cup Crab or Crustacean Meal 1 + 1/2 cups Glacial Rock Dust 1 cup of Gypsum 1 cup Oyster Shell flour 1/2 cup Azomite 1/4 cup rock phosphate 1 cup dolomite lime ↓(optional)↓ 2- 4 handfuls of worm castings 2-4 cups bio char 1 cup green sand 1 cup prilled/ pelletized rock phosphate add 5-10% water let sit for 2 weeks or more to cook top dress high nitrogen bat guano and high phosphorus seabird guano as needed. If you really want to go crazy here is some liquid feed I use on top of my soil mix. Go like 80% dose on package of each. You can foliar feed and water this mix in very frequently safely even on young seedlings and it will boost your growth significantly. Mix silica first and let it sit for 15 mins then the fish powder, kelp, aloe, calMag, in that order. Now mix in the full power fluvic acid and any other non nutrient additives you wish to use like microbial inoculates or humic acids in place of fluvic. Finish by Ph your water to 6.2-6.5

@thresh0014

2 жыл бұрын

If you're going go through all this for some veggies you should try to grow some nutrient dense herbs ;)

@OrganicGreens

2 жыл бұрын

@@thresh0014 I would never ( ;

I think dried grass could replace peat in homemade compost quite well. I literally have peat growing all around my property bc its so wet here, and I'm on a high point lol.

@ajb.822

2 жыл бұрын

I have used coconut coir, which is supposed to be a good peat alternative. Not native to my area, however ;) ( Wisconsin ).

Dunno where you are, and results may vary, but out of 12 different brands of bagged soil mix, and 2 different brands of bulk, I found that 100% of the time, mine is better and 1/12th the price if not free. You have to consider that any business is in it to squeeze the maximum profit out of what give you. This naturally pushed the limit on what is and isn't acceptable. None of them are benevolent. Everything I've bought that was labeled "soil", "potting mix" or "compost" were much more close to what i'd call "mulch", with huge chunks of wood.

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

In general, I'm not a fan of any of the bagged mixes, so that's not a huge surprise. The box store stuff is rarely worth buying

✌🏼💚 Great info

I'm not a farmer and have herbs and houseplants, so my needs are quite different. I started making my own mix because all I got out of those bags were mixes that needed a ton of extra material and an infestation of fungus gnats in my home. I'm over it. I have a good source of worm castings and my materials otherwise cost me very little and give me much less of a headache. If I had an outdoor space I'd probably feel differently though.

I get it. I am a container gardener. What do I do with last year's potting soil?

Thanks for the video. Great info. Any recs for nerd potting mix and compost in Northern California? Thanks

Great advice. My latest homemade mix seems to be killing plants- I’m pretty sure there is herbicide residue in the coir! 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

@ajb.822

2 жыл бұрын

Hmm, double check your water tho maybe ?

Its about the tools that are only viable at large scale. From testing to turners. A test is $20 (professional lab materials, tools, and labor) whether you are sampling a 1000 yard delivery or a single wheel barrow and achieving the proper compost conditions requires large piles correctly blended and frequently monitored for moisture and temperature for both breakdown and pasteurization, and efficiently turned, (getting a high percentage of the old outer layer to the new center without expending excess time and effort) and that calls for a specialized machine. Even mixing of the end product requires additional specialized machines and testing batch samples for pH to confirm lime adjustments and possibly physical properties like air and water holding capacity, drainage speed, etc. often two additives with the same purpose can cancel out or have other undesirable interactions if added in a certain proportion and all this takes some development testing. (A tangent, cactus mixes use sand rather than perlite not for drainage but for extra weight, because they are kept on the dry side perlite mixes can get so light that the plants can tip over.)

Our organic, no-till garden is just under 1,500 sq. ft. and we direct sow seeds whenever we can to keep things simple. So we don't need much seed starting mix. We only sift through a 3/16ths square mesh about 2, 5-gallon buckets worth all year for what we start in trays. We sift materials from our compost piles and from any bags we have like cactus mix, potting soil, mushroom compost, composted steer manure, or whatever we have on hand at the time. We sift out a little from as many different sources, (including our native soil) as we can, mix them all together and then add about 50% perlite or a mix of perlite and vermiculite totaling roughly 50% and start our seedlings in that. As long as it drains well (hence adding perlite) our seedlings do well. No peat, no coir, no worm castings, no leaf mould, no organic dry amendments at this stage. For us, the seed mix mostly just needed to be well-drained, and come from several sources to do well for our starts.

Hey guys. I'm from Germany and I have really good access to professional Potting soil. This year I started to experiment without it the first time. I'm adding usually different things and homemade worm castings. The thing to me is in terms of regenerative farming, with every plant you put mineral fertilizer into the ground and destroy your biology? The amounts used in the potting soil isn't that high, but if you're using it over and over again? How's your opinion on this? What kind of fertilizer are they using in your potting soil? Cheers folks

I have a horror story for you. Our local, commercial, composter is nothing like the ones you describe. They have plastic and weed seeds throughout their product. My mom had a truckload brought in to put in her flower beds by the house. The vegetable garden (over 100 yards away) is now full of horsetail. Neither landscape fabric nor cardboard has stopped its growth. They've only slowed it down. Ugh! Question: You mentioned rotting trees. Are you saying that I can replace my peat with the rotting wood? I am surrounded by such materials in a vast variety. I have been using it mostly as filler in the bottoms of my raised beds, but would love to replace the peat if that's a viable option.

I've made my own for years, I use peat in the hen house, get alfalfa pellets, burn my own charcoal, add local soil, (High PH here), add sulpher, zinc sulfate, iron, and get sand from a crusher plant, (raw unwashed) and sometimes rice hulls, I use a 1 years fruit bin, and add our kitchens scrapes, mostly they come via the chicken poop/peat. It composts, worms love it, so I think that there is no simple one stop shop.

Any advice on finding soil to buy or making our own without forever chems?

Liked subscribed and an old comment for your algorithm 👏

Check out Pitt Moss from recycled cardboard! It’s way better that peat moss! It’s amazing! It doesn’t do the hydrophobic thing

Any thoughts on the quality of pro-mix seed starter product? Anyone add additional nutrients to their seed start mix DIY or bought, thanks!

I noticed that SSARE is based in my town - UGA Griffin campus. Finding clean composters/soil makers in our region has been a fruitless enterprise for me so far. I see that y’all being up in KY, you source soils from northern companies. Any recommendations for more southern companies doing good clean soils or composting?

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

That's a good question. I don't know of any but maybe someone else can chime in. It's definitely a huge need we have in the area!

I am a home gardener living in Lexington. Do you drive to Cleveland or do they deliver bulk? Where do you get your local bulk compost or bulk compost resources?

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

No no I have them ship down a couple totes at a time

By the commercial mixes are referring to one like promix?

I've just heard about Grazon and how that can be terrible long term. How do you know a good supplier or tell their product is without this chemical?

Any opinion on the stamp of approval from the US Composting Counsel or OMRI (Organic Materials review institute)? the composers in my area all boast this but do nothing to test for residual pesticides or herbicides yet all of their inputs are local and municipal yard waste from suburbia.

Laughed so much at the first "nerd" haha

How can a buyer of commercial potting soil have best chance of not getting soil contaminated with long residual Grazon herbicide used on many pastures and hay fed to stock and who's manure ends up being used by soil maker? In prior years have had bad problems from this from a nearby commercial compost/potting soil operation which uses a great deal of dairy manure.

Farmer Jesse How do get one of those hats?

Another question: I have heard multiple accounts now out of england primarily of people using high-carbon compost as a starting mix, by itself. Specifically mixed woodchip, I.e. whole limbs chipped with leaves and all (so technically not only woodchip, there is some N in there) that is supposed to turn out as a starting medium, sometimes with some added aerating material. Have you tried anything like that before?

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting. do you have a link? may be totally fine for micros. long stuff I'm a little suspect

@flatsville1

2 жыл бұрын

So they are grinding ramial wood branches for growing medium? The use of ramial brances is the best/correct way to use wood chips as mulch rather than the crap that comes out of the tub grinder. Almost no one does this.

@dogslobbergardens6606

2 жыл бұрын

​@@flatsville1 Right? It's kind of astounding how many people now think that using literally JUST chips of wood is the best way. They generally claim to be following the "Back to Eden" style, but apparently they never saw the original video or even looked at the actual website. Paul Gautschi, the person who I believe coined the phrase and started that trend, is very clear that it's about using the whole branches, def including twigs and leaves etc, not just plain chipped wood.

@flatsville1

2 жыл бұрын

@@dogslobbergardens6606 Shhh... Don't tell anyone, but if you can find arborists simply trimming branches back from power lines THOSE ARE THE BEST woodchipped material. Almost solid ramial chips. Promise them nearly anything to dump on your property. Booze/beer often works.

@dogslobbergardens6606

2 жыл бұрын

@@flatsville1 absolutely right! I tried that a couple times but unfortunately the city did the cutting, and they had a contract with a private company where they dumped all those wonderful fresh leafy chipped branches off. Then people had to buy them from the company for forty bucks a pickup load! Like um wait my tax dollars paid for this job and now I have to buy it back? Boo. I did buy a couple loads of them, but I was salty about it lol. Now we moved to a different place and we recently cut down four over-grown bradford pear trees. It's a resilient tree for sure... all the branches are budding out and making leaves even though they've been cut down for almost a month. All I need to do is rent a woodchipper :)

People need to dig more into pete. I dont think its as bad as people seem to think.

I have a master composting cert from UVM. I gotta say utilizing cardboard in no till ......mygosh.

Hi, thanks for more interesting content! One thing I find disturbing, is how using peat is still so mainstream in North America. Almost every video I see, promotes using peat in soil mixes. I wonder if there is a movement within your country (US?) which recognises the environmental impact of extracting peat? Peat comes from bogs/marshes which have decomposed over centuries. When we dig it up, it is essentially lost; a carbon sink where carbon is trapped. I'm not an expert, but this is my understanding. Here in the UK, peat is being phased out. Because it is unsustainable, and its use contributes to climate change. In our 'home stores ' and garden centres, there are a variety of peat free composts to buy. As growers, is this something you're aware of? Have you looked into peat free alternatives? Thanks again! James Wow, I should have kept watching! I didn't get as far as the bit about environmental impact 🤣 Shows how long my attention span is! 🤣🤣

@rustyschackleford5800

2 жыл бұрын

Americans do not comprehend the carbon cycle. However, coco coir is actually gaining significant market share, presumably because it is becoming more profitable than peat.

Are you still looking at your beds with the microscopes and amending something accordingly?

Which product and how much do you purchase from Tilth?

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

Sprout I think, just their regular soil mix, and I buy two of their totes at a time. I think it's equal to one yard total (at a time)

I use my own compost but find it's too moist for indoor plants and not as airy

Much appreciated! I'm a newbie heading into second year, have been mixing my own mixes but noticing the inconsistencies you speak of. I tried the box-store mixes but they are inconsistent and often wet and full of strange matter, including shredded plastic. Unfortunately I don't know how to find a soil mix composter to compare. What are they called? How are they listed? Do they ship or require pick-up? (I know this will vary but I'm picking your brain ;-)... Thanks in advance! ps: I seriously worry that gardening is not eco-friendly regardless of what we do. We can repurpose/reuse all we like, but the industry for mass-production is awful, and the amount of fossil fuel we use to produce our amendments is truly scary for the future of our gardens. I'm working like the dickens to prepare for shortages or (hopefully/hopefully not) we JUST STOP using fossil fuels. We are going to need to do that anyway in the next 20 years. I wonder who's brain I can tap for industry plans on that? Again thank you so much!

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

Where are you located? There may be someone in the region who can make a suggestion for a good soil mix producer nearby

@flatsville1

2 жыл бұрын

There must be a directory somewhere on line kept by either an organic industry umbrella group or gov dept. You would have to then vette the listings via a discussion with other growers.

@dogslobbergardens6606

2 жыл бұрын

If we're trucking in {whatever} to keep our gardens going, then no we really can't call ourselves "green" or "sustainable." If we're relying on electricity to start seeds or incubate chicks etc, we have to consider where that power came from. In some cases, if we're (unknowingly) using compost, manure, hay, animal feed etc that's contaminated with persistent herbicides, we can't call ourselves "organic" either. Aminopyralid and clopyralid are an absolute nightmare. I'm sure none of us watching are using them on purpose, but it can be very hard to avoid them if you bring in almost anything related to hay grasses, or animals that eat them. Ideally the goal for me is to become a closed-loop system, where all my compost and seed and mulch and fertility and everything comes from my own property. That's really the only way one can ensure that they're not depending on the fossil fuel and chemical industries, and not taking more out of the earth than we're putting back in. That's clearly a very difficult goal. I may only ever achieve 90% or 75% or 50% of being a true closed-loop. But I do think it's very important and worthwhile to work towards that in whatever ways we can.

@flatsville1

2 жыл бұрын

Saw a recent vid on a guy who grows his own rye grass in strips to mulch his tomatoes rows/beds also grown in strips next to the rye grass. He doesn't plant into the rye grass. He cuts the rye grass, walks a few feet across the row & dumps it on the tomato plants, essentially raising his own straw mulch. (Don't know why he doesn't plant into it. Might have to do with crop timing or root mat issues. Oddly, the interviewer didn't ask & the farmer didn't explain.) Then next season, he puts in tomatoes where the rye grass grew the year before. Grows out the rye grass in the former tomato beds/rows. About as closed loop as you can get.

@dogslobbergardens6606

2 жыл бұрын

@@flatsville1 absolutely, growing as much of your own mulch and compostable material as possible/practical is definitely part of the answer.

Is that a Plan B hoodie??

I've been experimenting making my own mix without buying anything at all. Homemade compost and leaf mold mostly. Also trying charcoal and crushed bark for added air. I like to pretend like there is no store to buy things and just use the resources I have on my property. The natives made it work. Why can't I?

@ajb.822

2 жыл бұрын

Well, I am of that mindset m/l too :) , but as far as making things work, market gardening is different than gardening for oneself ( unless you have rare customers). For high volume, reliable, on schedule, predicable amount of certain plants for the entire season, regardless of weather challenges, for modern customers comparing your offerings to your competitor's. If your out living off the land and your 1st batch of seedlings didn't survive, you eat something else or maybe go a little hungry even. While CSA growers, for ex., can get away with a little of " the carrots all died, you're getting extra beets in your box instead" ( my words ;) ), there's prob. a tight limit to how much of that u can do. From what I've read. Otherwise, totally down with your approach !

Side note..you look less tired. :-)

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

We'll see if that trend holds haha

Before KZread I didn't even know potting soil or seed staring mix was a thing. Just did it the way Grandpa did by throwing down cow manure and till it in after harvest around about Thanksgiving then cover with straw until Spring when it was ready to go. Now granted his way wasn't a professional grow op, sometimes we have more weeds than vegetables but we pulled a whole big family worth of vegetables out of Grandpa's garden. We ate beafsteak tomatoes like you can't buy even at a farmers market these days. I'm not sold on no-til gardening or that any of this is necessary for average ordinary family garden. Tell me I'm wrong. Mother nature does a pretty good job with soil and plant propagation without any help from us humans. I would prefer to find more KZread videos that feature traditional garden growing techniques.

@yxcvmk

2 жыл бұрын

Grandpa's garden sounds great. From my private (non-professional) experience, I assume throwing the cow manure on (without the diffing), and then cover it until spring: All will be as great (or better), because the microorganisms and worms are not disturbed/killed. They will transport the organic matter. In case you still garden "Grandpa's way), you could try the before-mentioned approach on one of your beds. Would love to see both in comparison in spring, during growing and at the end of the season.

@ajb.822

2 жыл бұрын

I am a home gardener and I AM sold on no-till, as it seems to be undeniably true that tillage kills soil life, wakes up pathogens and buried weed seeds and massively makes more of the weeds which spread by rhizome/roots, like quack grass and dandelions and some thistles we had at our one home. There are traditional, tillage gardeners out there on KZread, I've come across them. But I do ask you to pls check out Charles Dowding's channel and find his introductory videos on why no-dig ( as he calls it ) is better, and his experience. In his book on it, you get a lot more very helpful details and mulch comparisons and more, and more of his life story and how he used to garden. He and this channel and others have strong evidence that taking good care of the soil life, which includes not turning over the soil, is what actually matters, is what the plants need, not feeding the plants. Gardens like your grandpa's did well, anyways, because of the parts done well - the feeding of the soil life with the manure, protection with the straw etc., and the lack of chemicals probably in your water and in your cattle's feed etc. , bedding and then manure. Lack of as much unhealthy ecosystems around it, limiting pest pressures. Some pest issues we now face, didn't used to be "a thing" ! The people having the most success without harsh chemicals, are the no-till growers whose gardens have had a few years to get things really singin' ! The vegetables from these gardens are known to have better nutrition and taste, too. Some of those things, like the tomatoes you remember, can be a lost variety and you may never find one that matches your memory. But maybe he had really good mineral content is his soil, due to those things I said I thought were good and depending on what his cows ate. Probably fed very little annuals and they probably were on pastures for most of their diet and unless it was the prairie, had a lot of trees and brush they ate from too. So, things like that can really help make up for tillage, except for the weed issue. Some weeds LOVE fertile soil and they grow FAST. So, I think you'd really like a no-till version of your grandpa's garden !

@davidgrider7200

2 жыл бұрын

@@yxcvmk You know that is a good idea. I'm just trying to get to it. Unfortunately grandpa passed away long time ago. I've got a large backyard garden area that has not been used as a garden for at least 12 years. My ambition mostly comes from the poor quality (nasty) vegetables from the store and not much better at farmers market. It's work, I know but I think I have time and energy to do it. Thanks for the idea.

@davidgrider7200

2 жыл бұрын

@@ajb.822 Thanks for the info. I will be checking out Charles Dowding's channel. I'm looking at all that I stumble upon and subscribe to the good ones. I do think there is a lot of hot gas in some of these channels and they seem to be a bit repetitive. Like I said, I'm not exactly sold. The world over has been farming successfully for millenniums. You do have a point about soil depletion, chemical toxicity even air pollution that didn't exist 40 years ago. Just thinking back as to how Grandpa did it (and Grandma don't forget Grandma in the garden). They came from a generation that survived the great depression and a 2nd world war. They had skills.

I want a hat like that.

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

Hit up New England Compost company!

Using plain peat moss is correct in thinking of dusty fine mess. Use Sphagnum Peat Moss, the stuff is in square 3 cuft blocks. Sphagnum is that, all of it is cut in the same bogs usually by the same company. Large scale soil producers don't get better Sphagnum than you or I. That was a truly false statement. It is cut frozen in the shape you buy it at the garden store. No, additional processing except to slide in a bag. Also, if you are a home hobby gardener. Get a cheap cement mixer from Harbor Freight and mix your soils. This will begin to give you the consistency he is looking for and takes out most all the work.

Was that Pylon in the background?

@notillgrowers

2 жыл бұрын

Pylon? The water barrels?

@LexLuthier1

2 жыл бұрын

They were a nineties rock band who were contemporaries of R.E.M. and the B-52's here in Athens, GA. BTW, Jessie, you rock also. You've taught this old dog quite a few new tricks..

The part you missed about peat moss is that not only are you destroying the peat bogs. As they dig in and harvest it, it releases literal tons of CO2 into the air.. DO NOT USE PEAT MOSS...

Gathered some soil from the sun🤣

All the soil I've bought yet had trash in it... plastic bag pièces, melamine pieces, metal pieces... Nope done with buying... the soil i bought last year had 1 inch bathroom tiles in it... like wtf... worst of all he advertised his low grade dirt as rich black forest earth... you're lucky where you are cuz here they're all a bunch of greedy scamers that don't care once they got paid. As they say: Best served by yourself. 😁 I'll make my own.

Let's face it. The problems of our planet are the excess of humans doing the stuff humans like to do, not the use of peat in agriculture.

@meg6205

2 жыл бұрын

humans like to do things like justify unsustainable processes in the name of comfort, ease, and a need to make money aka greed. eat that pill. if you don't, you're lying to yourself.

Midway ohio.

Indigenous Micro Organisms don't exist in store bought things.

Too damn cheap to buy on sale

@JS-jh4cy

2 жыл бұрын

By the time you mix everything together ☺️, pooped out for the rest of the gardening and farming work

That guy is Hot😍. Too bad I'm not 😩.

@ajb.822

2 жыл бұрын

He's also married... .( I like him too, esp. his sense of humor which comes out at times ).