Back to Eden Gardening and Hugelkulture and other non-conventional garden methods

[Leahs Mom]

I see.

Well, I've never tried the hay (Ruth Stout) and have always laid down a layer of cardboard under wood chips so I haven't had to deal with weeds yet.

Curious, how much time do you end up spending on weeds with just the chips?

 

[lazy gardener]

Very little. I have a few dandelion pulling sessions in the orchard. Really haven't had to deal with weeds with chips in the garden as BTE is still a work in progress. I currently have 4 wide beds for greens and onions and peppers that are not covered with chips. Obviously, those require weeding. I've covered about 1/2 of the pathways with chips, cardboard underneath.

I started working on BTE last year, so the garden was a combination of wide beds, hay mulch, and BTE. I have plenty of weeds in the sections that have not been dealt with this season, mostly b/c I have a lot of 1 year old garlic that I don't want to destroy. I'll be transplanting a lot of that into the orchard, then, I'll simply have to get tough, and cover those baby garlic bulbs up with cardboard and chips. Waiting until the large garlic clumps are ready for harvest, then will be able to BTE that section.

 

[Leahs Mom]

So far, how have the wood chips compared to using hay mulch?

 

[Leahs Mom]

@lazy gardener
Could you compare your experience using the deep hay/straw vs what your experienced with the wood chips for us? Pros and cons of each, what your current thoughts are on them etc.

 

[lazy gardener]

Straw: was nice before the price went through the ceiling. It was not weed free, as I had oats or barley sprouting up here and there, but that was not so bad. Either hay or straw work well if you can keep it thick enough: minimum of 6", which I had a hard time doing b/c the stuff settled and melted right into the soil so fast. Initially, easier to spread than wood chips, but must be renewed at least yearly. I was using 20 bales to cover about 1200 s.f. Grass clippings work well in the garden, especially if spread in shallow layers, with cardboard underneath. These days, you must be very careful where your hay/straw comes from b/c of the new herbicides that are being used in fields. It's possible to poison your entire garden for years to come by using tainted hay/straw without knowing it. The same goes for manure.

Leaves: work well, especially in the growing paths. The down side of leaves is that they compact into a layer that is difficult to break up when they get wet. They also blow around when they are dry. If you can shred them a bit with a lawn mower, they are better to work with both wet and dry. They are a power house of nutrients for the garden. Consider how deep those tree roots go. They mine nutrients from those deep soil layers. Leaves do not break down in the same way that hay and straw do, they depend more on microrhizae action. When you hear someone talk about leaf mold, they are talking about leaves that have composted through that fungal action. good stuff!!. One year, I piled leaves into an area of the garden shortly before the ground froze. The pile was about 4' high, and 12' x 8' foot print. I watered it well, and as the pile was built, I liberally added urea. Then covered the whole pile with plastic. By the time the ground was thawed, the pile had cooked down quite a bit, and was great to work with.

Wood chips: I'm still converting my garden to BTE. I can tell you that I've seen incredible things happening with BTE in the orchard.

My orchard started as a nasty combination of clay subsoil riddled with rocks. This mess was left over after we had some land cleared. The area was grown up to trees which were too close to the house for safety. Mostly soft wood, much of it dying. Some Maple, and ash. Vernal pools here and there, lots of rocks. The guy who cleared it hauled all the usable wood off. He buried a lot of the stumps and rubble, left us 2 massive slash piles with so much soil mixed in that there is no way we can burn them. In the process all of the good top soil was buried deep with heavy clay and rocks exposed.

So, I decided to plant an orchard, Late summer 2015, I started hauling rocks out of the way, building a rock wall of sorts, and digging holes for trees. Each hole required a pick axe, taking hours to dig a hole that was no where as big as the size recommended. Hard digging, like trying to break up concrete. The planting sites were amended with some partially composted leaf mold. The whole area was covered with cardboard b/c it was growing up to weeds. Then I spread wood chips, about 4" thick, some areas a bit deeper.

Now, when I dig a hole in the orchard, of course the rocks are still there, but... I am able to dig a hole with a garden fork or a shovel. While the soil is still heavy clay, it is workable. The chips are breaking down nicely. Some places where I dig, I would actually call the soil pleasant to work with. The trees are growing well, in spite of the water table being much higher, and the area much wetter (especially this spring/summer) than hoped for. In the garden, I started BTE last summer. It's been slow going, as I've had to haul the chips a single wheel barrow at a time across the yard which includes a bit of an uphill push. I would say that the down side of BTE is the difficulty of getting the chips and spreading them. Oh how I wish I had the power equipment to do BTE and HK without breaking my back! I am convinced that BTE will do great things for my soil. While it's hard to establish, over time, it should become easier. The other possible down side may be the difficulty of keeping the flock from kicking the chips out of the garden when they are allowed in to work the garden at the end of the summer. BTW, the chickens LOVE to work the BTE areas. Evidently, they are finding LOTS to eat!

A new addition to BTE this season is Wine Cap mushroom spawn. I've spawned 3 areas, and hoping that mushrooms will be a nice crop, in addition to the benefit of increased fertility in the BTE areas.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@lazy gardener
Thank you. The story of your orchard is very inspiring. We also just cleared some over-grown woods and hoping to put in a few fruit trees. Thankfully the ground isn't clay, but the top soil is definitely "more than disturbed" and certainly not where it should be.

And the power equipment. What I wouldn't give to afford a bucket for the tractor!!!!

 

[lazy gardener]

I'd be happy to have the tractor... though without the bucket... it's not so useful...

 

[Leahs Mom]

I am blessed to have inherited the tractor from my parents. Really only using it for mowing but it does have PTO so could run a bucket...if I could find one that doesn't break the bank.


ETA: I have considered buying a "dump trailer" that's about the size of a large wheel barrow. At least I'd only have to shovel the chips into it and not have to wheel barrow them over.

 

[Intheswamp]

I am blessed to have inherited the tractor from my parents. Really only using it for mowing but it does have PTO so could run a bucket...if I could find one that doesn't break the bank.
ETA: I have considered buying a "dump trailer" that's about the size of a large wheel barrow. At least I'd only have to shovel the chips into it and not have to wheel barrow them over.

Have you considered one of these scoops that you hook up to your 3-point hitch?

http://www.agrisupply.com/point-dirt-scoop-inches/p/67010/

 

[Leahs Mom]

@Intheswamp

I've never seen one of those. (Which is not surprising since I'm uneducated in tractor stuff). I'm going to take a look at that. It just may be the answer that's not too expensive. Thank you for posting!